Hidden Sky
by Hibikiri
Summary: AU. They said he was cursed. Everyone avoided him. Cause he was abnormal. He acted. Or did he. But they didn't know the real him. He didn't know himself . Then a boy known as Hibari Kyoya came. Standing right beside him. 1827 development, slight gore
1. Prologue: Beginning to Hide & To Hide 1

**Combined Prologue with Chapter 1~**

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><p><em><strong>Hidden Sky<strong>_

_**Prologue**_

_**-Beginning to Hide-**_

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><p>Darkness always eventually befalls the sky, turning from day to night. No matter what happens, the light will go and the darkness will return, a never ending cycle. Not once, has anyone ever asked or thought of which side is the true sky. There was just no need for questioning. It just happens.<p>

The great vast sky greets us morning with a cheerful shining sun every day whilst the darkened night sky lures us to sleep with its impending darkness. Which form is the true colour of the sky?

In Sawada Tsunayoshi's case: _Both_

Zero suspicions on anything about him. Tsuna is _normal_, nothing more, nothing less. There is no need to know him, he was useless after all. He was nothing special. Don't get in his way and he won't get into yours, just another person and another classmate that no one paid any attention to.

…no one but Hibari Kyoya, for the clouds are the closest to the sky.

Clouds are the ones that covers and hides the sky.

As if protecting it.

—

Tears streamed down chubby cheeks with a blank face, dripping onto a bloodied pale face of a woman. Her pupil-less eyes were wide with shock and mouth agape. Her head still dripping with fresh blood from a wound on her forehead was disconnected from a pile of bloody mess forming a scene that a six year old child should not be seeing.

Yet, there _is_ a six year old child staring down deeply at the unrecognizable woman, they had her hair cut off. She was the foster mother of Hibari Kyoya or as he assumes to be, with the mess he sees through his teary eyes.

As the last drop of tears fell from his eyes, he turned around and left his 'mother' in an alleyway that she was found in after disappearing while going shopping for dinner. He had refused to go shopping with her - that woman spent too much time deciding on what to buy. So he fell asleep in a tree near the park, unbeknownst to the danger that he could've been in.

_He woke up a few hours after he parted with his mother at the shopping district before leaving to get some peace and quiet. There was no need to worry about him going alone, he was strong and that woman knew it, witnessing a few times when Hibari was biting some silly teenagers to death for trying to harass an old lady for money. First-hand witness. It looked _painful.

_Thinking he should go meet up with his mother since it was getting late, he jumped gracefully down from where he slept and went to search for her. Oddly enough she wasn't anywhere at the usual places she buys ingredients for their meals, so he started poking his head into different areas. Of course this behaviour led to a few middle-aged women to giggle at his cuteness and offered to help the _lost_ boy. They were promptly replied with a semi-polite definite "No" and their hearts on the edge of the cliff when the young child took out a pair of tonfas and said "I'll bite you to death"._

_Watching the annoying herbivores scurry off - a few sprinted - Hibari retracted his tonfas to its pocket-sized tube form and hid it somewhere within his clothing. Calmly with a blank face, he turned to the opposite direction for where the herbivores ran off to and continued his search, completely ignoring the gaping faces of passersby staring at him with slight fear._

_He found her just before the sun started to set._

_He turned right into an alleyway - where he was lectured many times to not enter...to only find a dead corpse. The corpse of the one who had took him in for the past few months when the orphanage he was in had to close down, the one who showed him kindness that he never knew._

_Dead. It was a quick death with a gunshot to the head, but how they mutilated the corpse was...dreadful._

_Hibari knew of death, apparently his real parents died and orphaned him. It meant that they will leave and never come back. Without warning, something started falling down his face. He touched it with his fingers and looked at it. Something wet. Tears? This was the first time he did such a herbivorous act. He looked down the deranged corpse and felt irritation._

_He had let one herbivore get close to him and this is what happens? At that moment, walls started building around his heart, to stay strong. Next time another important person appears in his life, he'll definitely protect them, without fail. It was an oath he swore under his breath._

Swiftly he picked up a bunch of daisies from a nearby lawn and returned to place them on top of his mother's remains, as if to wish her peace. It's not as if he got them specifically for her because he _knew_ she absolutely _adores_ the tiny white flowers. Nope, he was just getting something random for the woman.

With one last look behind him, Hibari trekked down the lane, back to his now empty home. A home that won't welcome him with a smile because he wasn't able to protect that smile from danger. Thinking about the people who could've done this deed drew a sneer on his face.

He'll become a carnivore to protect.

—

A small figure leaned gently on the wall of a dark hallway, resting next to the door of his parents' room. To be precise, it was Sawada Nana's room, since her husband was never home. Slowly he slid down the wall into a tiny ball, hugging himself for warmth from the cold night.

Soft wailings could be heard from the secretive door. It was no secret. Tsuna knew his mama occasionally cried at night for his daddy when she thought he was tucked away in his warm comfy bed with his teddy bear asleep. She just didn't know he would always wake up right afterwards when he has a tugging feeling that it was going to be one of _those_ nights that she would cry her heart out for that man.

Tsuna may be young but he was bright, he just didn't want to show it. He would rather blend in with the rest of the kids at the day care then stand out like a sore thumb. He once talked about his favourite hobbies with a few kids - technology upgrades, books like Harry Potter etc - but they only stared at him in confusion and called him weird. He never did that again and opted to stay quiet instead.

However because he stayed quiet, that may have been the reason he had so few friends...ok none at all. It wasn't his fault he seemed anti-social, he was shy in general and the best way to befriend others is to start off with a conversation that both parties like right? Or so it said on the internet. Unfortunately, so far the other parties he tried to talk with so far weren't interested...or more like didn't understand what he was going on about.

_"Blue is better!"_

_"No WAY. Red is better, no the BEST!"_

_Tsuna stared as two boys who attended the same pre-school as him, arguing back and forth on which colour was better. He had just arrived, late(they were having afternoon tea already) since he was sick yesterday so his mama allowed him to sleep in and rest a bit more. He only wanted to find a quiet spot away and alone by himself to eat his favourite tuna sandwich his mama made - especially- for him. Yet he managed to stumble in front of an argument. Lucky._

_He cocked one of his eyebrows as they started to yell at each other. Honestly, they bothered to even think that one colour is more _girly_ than the other. Of all things, _girly_? He had seen quite a few _grown-upmen_ wear both colours. Wait, why was he even standing there when he had food to eat. Better go before he gets-_

_"Oi! Dame-Tsuna come here!"_

…_caught up in the conversation. Why did they start to speak properly when they include his nickname? Weird._

_Grudgingly, Tsuna hugged his brown paper bag to himself before shuffling slowly towards the two boys who called out to him. His huge round caramel eyes kept glancing down towards his feet rather than up and straight ahead. He may think a lot of things but that doesn't affect his naturally timid and shy nature._

_"Heh, Dame-Tsuna is _so _slow." He wouldn't have if they didn't seem so intimidating with those loud voices of theirs._

_"Hey, which colour is more girly? Blue or red?" _As expected…why are they so keen on this topic of theirs…_Tsuna inwardly rolled his eyes. He really should answer them before they question him why he was taking so long. Not really his fault that he was kind of annoyed since he was hungry. Mama told him to eat lunch at pre-school with the other kids and looked what happened._

_"I-I th-think…" he took a deep breath before continuing "I think...what makes colours wonderful...are the variety and the differences they are to each other."_

_Gathering his confidence, he looked up with determined eyes, "They are their own colour, there is no gender based colours. Although it is often depicted that pink is a female's colour while blue is a male's colour. Because there is a variety, it makes the world a more interesting place. It makes the world beautiful to look at." _

_"…wow, Dame-Tsuna stole someone's words!"_

_"Yea! I don't understand. Let's go, we shouldn't have asked _him_!"_

_"Stupid-Tsuna! Stealing-Tuna! Dame-Tsuna!"_

_With that, they ran off to the other side of the playground, laughing and shouting at 'Dame-Tsuna'. Said person stood there with his head bowed down. His body trembled as his eyes glistened with crystal tears._

_Why did everyone hate him?_

Being described as intelligent is an understatement, a child prodigy would be more befitting for a young child of five like Sawada Tsunayoshi. People definitely wouldn't look beyond the cute pouty face with wide curious caramel eyes and soft brown hair that defied gravity. After that event and a few more times of failing to mix in with others, he gave up and stayed in his lonely spot hidden from everyone. That is why the young Tsuna understood what his mama was going through right now.

Tsuna clenched the sleeves of his plain yellow pyjamas with his tiny hands as he heard another loud despairing cry from inside his mama's bedroom. He wanted his mama to be happy and cheerful like she always does in the day time as she greets their neighbours. She should be having peaceful sweet dreams, not awake with tears down her eyes.

A small frown made it to his face and silently thought to himself. He didn't want to become like his daddy, making mama sad and lonely. _He _didn't want to be alone anymore either. There was a long silence from the door, confirming that she was finally asleep. With that in mind, Tsuna quietly got up and crept back into his bed, snuggling underneath the soft covers with his brown teddy bear. He silently breathed out a few words into the night before shutting his eyes into a deep sleep.

_Please don't leave us alone._

Outside his window, a shooting star flew past.

—

Tsuna was only five when his father left them and never returned.

It was also when Tsuna first met a young boy named 'Hibari Kyoya'.

**_-End-_**

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><p><em><strong>Hidden Sky<strong>_

_**-To Hide One -**_

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><p>Home didn't feel like home when Hibari stepped through the door at one in the morning. It was eerily quiet and hollow without the familiar sound of a certain person's humming as she makes dinner. It was empty.<p>

The apartment was small with one bedroom, a kitchen and a living room. Just enough for one person. His hand lingered longingly on scattered blankets laying around the couch for his makeshift bed. They felt _cold_ on his fingers for some reason.

Hibari jerked his head suddenly towards the door. Faintly but certainly, there was the ringing alarm of a police car. They must have found her body.

First he just stood there, thinking of waiting for the police to arrive. The next thing he knew, he burst out the door running as far away as he could when something registered in his young bright mind.

He was an orphan _again_. They will send him _back_ to that _sucky_ orphanage.

_There is no way I'm going back there._

Running behind a tree, Hibari just managed to hide himself from view when a police car parked right outside where he was a while ago. He watched silently in the shadows as a policeman walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of where he once lived. After knocking a few more times, he kicked down the door and went inside.

The police can deal with everything else, they just have to leave the culprits of the murder to _his_ hands. He swore this promise to himself. He'll definitely achieve it.

He turned and ran. His short legs were tired from searching for that woman earlier but that didn't stop his fast paced running past the streets. Hibari didn't know where his feet were leading him to. He was just tired. _Exhausted._

His breathing gradually became short quick breaths, so he stopped. Closing his eyes and slowly breathing in deeply, he tried to calm down his beating heart.

Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. He felt his heartbeat regain its normal beat and opened his eyes…to an unfamiliar place?

_Where am I?_ It was already very late, not a single light was lit but the bright white moon and stars in the dark sky above him. He was sleepy and tired.

Climbing up a tree, he went out like a candle on a sturdy branch. It didn't matter it wasn't soft as a bed. He needed his rest.

He will worry about breakfast tomorrow.

—

It wasn't a good day for Tsuna, or more like the day didn't start off that well at pre-school.

Nana was smiling happily as bright as the sun when he was shaken awake by her this morning. She helped him get ready for the day before going down together to eat the breakfast she had already prepared.

Tsuna stared worriedly across the table when she wasn't looking. It was as if nothing had happened last night. She was just _that_ good at hiding it.

Just not good enough to bypass Tsuna's sensitivity.

"Tsu-kun, you might want to eat faster~ You might be late for pre-school," automatically, Tsuna spooned bigger mouthfuls of his cereal, looking_ very much_ like a hamster with his cheeks filled up. A chipmunk would work as well, either way Nana squealed at her 'Tsu-kun's' unintentional adorableness.

A confused face just stared back whilst slowly swallowing.

After finishing his breakfast, he held his mama's hands and trekked along the street towards what he called a hell hole. As the gates got closer, Tsuna clung closer to his mama's pants. He didn't want to go but he had to. He couldn't trouble his mama when she goes to work to support them.

Although monthly, they receive a large sum of money from_ that man_ that is enough for them to last more than a few months. Nana however still wishes to be able to support herself and Tsuna in case one day, their main source of income ceased.

That _is_ believable.

_That man_ could forget that he had a wife_ and_ a son at home when he is always overseas doing who knows what.

"Have fun again today Tsu-kun!"

And the gates clashed in front of him as his mama waved goodbye beyond them.

Tsuna sighed depressingly. Why did they have gates, it felt like he was in jail, or was it the fact he was shorter than the gates itself that created this feeling. He stared hopefully towards the figure of his mama leaving to turn back and take him out. No such luck when she disappeared from his view.

His shoulders slumped down with defeat. Clutching his small backpack, he headed for his classroom with Ms what-is-her-name-again.

Silently, he crept towards the back of the room, ignored by the other kids who were too busy chatting away. Just as he settled down in his usual spot, their teacher entered greeting her class and vice versa.

It was amusing how some of the _bad_ kids he knew turn 180 degrees from mean to cute. _Is this what they call teacher's pets? Hmmm…_

Today they were having a drawing class to Tsuna's glee. It was something he enjoyed, he didn't have to speak and get laughed at for stuttering. He usually ends up with a red face back in his seat when that happens, and their teacher failing to stop the other kids from jeering at him.

Colour pencils and crayons were spread out on the tables and tiny grubby hands raced to get the best colours. Also grabbing a few pieces of paper, they ran back to their seats enthusiastically with their friends. Tsuna was off alone, having silently grabbed a few colours when the other kids were too busy fighting.

Staring at the blank paper laid out in front of him, he pressed a fist onto his chin and contemplated. What shall he draw today? Reaching out, he held a dark grey crayon and drew a curve. Then another and another until it connected with the first curve to form a cloud.

Hovering the tip across the page, the tip pressed down and drew smaller swirls surrounding the first one before switching for a deep purple pencil.

Slowly Tsuna sketched a head beside the cloud. Colouring in a pair of tiny beady eyes, he then drew a sharp beak. He slid his hand back and forth for the feathers. Taking a lighter purple, he shaded the bird in before using black. Leaning back, he looked over his creation.

A huge grey cloud floated solitary in the background with smaller misty ones that were separated from it. The main focus however was a detailed drawing of a black and purple bird flying with its wings spread wide apart taking flight. Each feather was drawn with detailed small strokes. Its eyes were staring as though right into his soul.

Tsuna placed his small hands onto the picture he drew, as if reaching out for the bird. It was a skylark. He had seen a dream of it last night.

_He had been falling. Rapidly._

_Down with air rushing into his face. He had felt so _scared_ and so _lonely_. Tears had been streaming down his face as he continued to plummet down from the sky. He felt so sad. _Lost_. But then something warm enveloped him into a hug._

_It felt so comforting. So _nice_ and _soothing_. He opened his eyes and saw himself on top of a bird. A huge black and purple skylark. They were flying above the clouds. Short glimpses of the ground could be seen in between them._

_Then the skylark spread its wings wide apart and landed on a large grey cloud. It placed him down so _gently._ The cloud felt very soft and cuddly underneath his bare feet. He looked up and stared straight into cold yet warm grey eyes. The bird had transformed into a young boy around his age._

_He wanted to say something. _Anything._ He opened his mouth and-_

The dream ended. With him feeling frustrated. Frustrated that he couldn't say what he wanted and he doesn't even _know_ what he wanted to say. Frustrated that he couldn't see the other boy's face.

Overall, frustrated that the dream was _confusing_ and was one of his foretelling dreams. All he could understand was that he may meet that person later on. Probably sooner than he expected.

Tsuna stared at the skylark he drew, trying to imagine the boy's features but only remembered his eyes. He hoped the boy was nice.

"What is this, birds aren't _purple_ Dame-Tsuna," he flinched and looked up, to see a boy with an evil smirk on his face towering over him. His usual bully has finally arrived. Without his lackeys that is.

Hastily, Tsuna folded his picture neatly into quarters and stuffed it inside his pocket. The bully grinned evilly and opened his mouth to jab at him.

"Children, it's time for your afternoon snack," with that Tsuna used this opportunity to escape. Grabbing his backpack as well – he didn't know what they might do to it if he left it there - he ran out the door into the playground amongst the other kids.

The bully was left behind with a scowling face, having his enjoyment escaped, but then the corners of his lips turned up as he followed the crowd out the door.

Running away from his bully was annoying. It always happens, so he tries to avoid him. Last time he got his lunch stolen and met his mama with a starving tummy. Fortunately, she just thought he was a growing boy and needed more food. This morning he was given lunch enough for two people. Hopefully he could at least keep half of it for himself to eat.

Suddenly he was taken out of his thoughts. A very _accidental _push sent Tsuna sprawling onto the ground. Pain filled his brain feeling stinging from his hands and legs. He got up, wincing at the pain and looked over himself. He had scraped his palms and knees. What luck he has.

"Haha, Dame-Tsuna is so clumsy right" he looked towards the source of the voice. It was the bully. _With_ his lackeys this time. Damn.

Ignoring the stinging, he ran again as the bullies behind him shouted and ran after him. This time he ran towards his area. His haven in this hell hole that they call 'a pre-school with charming children'. _Charming? What _charming_ children? I don't see _any_._

Past the boundary line where they weren't supposed to go beyond, he opened a wired gate and ran behind it before locking it up again. He kept running until he couldn't hear their voices. He ran through trees with precise balance and stopped when he saw a clearing with a lake beside it.

He was there. His haven.

It was beautiful really. Different flowers grew around the forest floor, the sun caused the ripples on the lake to sparkle brilliantly, a large cherry blossom tree grew beside it. It was beautiful during spring when it blooms.

Slightly breathing heavily, he sat down underneath the huge tree where there was shade. The gentle breeze blew into his heated face felt soothing. He flopped down on the ground, closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment.

He looked up at the clear blue sky with clouds floating here and there.

Good weather today.

He laid there for a while, relaxing and unknowingly, fell asleep. A while later he woke up feeling hungry so he took out his lunch box to eat. Today he had a pair of each food. Two juice boxes, two hamburgers, two chocolate bars and two cookie packets. Yum.

Hungrily he reached out for his burger, only to hear the sound of a bell ringing softly.

Why was everything going against him today?

Life is never fair for him. Why? What did he do wrong?

Disappointed, he put his lunch box back into his bag and made his way back to his pre-school. It wasn't that far away. He will be back here tomorrow, next time he _will _eat his lunch. He just had to stop wasting his precious time.

Did he mention that his pre-school was built right in front of Namimori Forest?

—

The loud sound of a bell jerked Hibari awake. What was wrong with that wakeup call? He will bite them to death for disturbing his sleep. Yawning he thought back to last night to now. He only had what? 6 to 7 hours of sleep? He needed _more_.

Straightening himself up, he jumped down from the tree and turned towards the culprit for the disturbance. Irritated he looked around and saw a pre-school. Damn, he couldn't bite a building to death. Disappointment filled him.

Hibari carefully observed his surroundings. He still didn't know where he was. It was quite an empty street apart from the pre-school and a…mini-supermarket across the street.

Wao, just what he need. He was hungry and there was a place to buy food.

Wonderful.

Counting the pocket money he brought, there _should_ be enough for him to buy something to eat.

With that concluded, Hibari made his way towards the shop that _may_ or _may no_t be traumatized, by a six year old boy.

—

Now any poor soul working and a young boy comes in threatening them would be traumatized. Especially if a boy was wielding a pair of_ tonfas_ and _growling_ 'I'll bite you to death'.

That was what happened for Hiragi.

It was just another normal day. He was helping out putting stocks away. Normally there wouldn't be any customers until later when the pre-school across the street lets the kids out and their parents came here to buy them a snack. Or it could be early in the morning, some people come by to buy breakfast or coffee.

Very late at night, some come to buy cigarettes, ingredients for dinner or magazines. At the end of each day, they would close the shop one hour before midnight.

So when Hiragi heard the door bell chime, he was a bit surprised. He looked over his shoulder to welcome the customer.

"Irashaima…se?" Where were they? Did a stray cat of dog managed to come in?

"Hiragi-kun, can you please check if it wasn't a stray animal that came in?" The gruff voice of his manager snapped him out of his stupor.

"Yes!"

Confused, he placed the box of stocks he was putting away down on the floor and headed towards the entrance. He looked around and spotted…huh? A kid? Shouldn't he be in school at this time?

"Hey kid. What are you doing here out of school? Where are your parents?" Bending down to the boy's level, he looked right into the boy's eyes and felt himself shiver. A pair of icy grey eyes stared coldly back at him. Young boys shouldn't have such a cold look in their eyes.

Nevertheless, he unconsciously gulped down a fear that rose within him.

"S-so kid," why did he stutter, it's just a kid. "What's wrong?"

The 'kid' calmly looked back at him and said, "Herbivore, I would like to buy some food."

Hiragi blinked blankly at this, this straightforwardness. Also, just where was this kid's manners? Calling him a herbivore. What were they teaching children at school these days? The young boy must have asked him something for quite a while, since he felt something painful smack him in the face, sending him flying back a few metres into the wall.

Cradling his left cheek, he looked back at the boy with shock. The person in question looked irritated…and are those _tonfas_ in his hands? How did the small figure carry so much strength?

"I'll ask one more time, where is the food section useless herbivore? Answer or I'll bite you to death." Seeing him growling and the tonfas suddenly shining dangerously, Hiragi quickly pointed to the back of the shop. He watched carefully as the boy walked towards where he pointed, flinching slightly away when he walked passed him.

Hastily, he got up and retreated a safe distance far away from the boy. He was dangerous no doubt, and _he _doesn't want to invoke that kid's anger. His left cheek was still throbbing, a lump was forming and it might be bruised purple already.

Hopefully no one will ask about it. He just _can't _say a little boy had hit him. No one would believe him. _Normal _young boys _shouldn'_t be able to inflict much injury or this _amount_ of damage.

Well he learnt something new today. His eyes followed the boy's movements as he picked up something off the shelf and headed towards the counter.

Beware of small boys with cold eyes who may wield tonfas.

_— _

_Stupid herbivore, ignoring me after offering help. I should hit him again, this time on his other cheek. _

However before Hibari could carry on his plan, he focused on the growling of his stomach.

He retracted his tonfas and walked past rows of magazines, CDs and others until he reached the back of the shop where the instant meals could be bought. He will bite that herbivore later, breakfast comes first. Wait, it's lunch now…oh well.

Scanning over the shelves he contemplated on which to choose. He only had enough money to last him for a week. He needed to find somewhere to live soon, first he must limit the amount of money he can spend.

Nodding to himself, he reached out for an onigiri -it was the cheapest- and went to the counter to pay.

"Thank you and have a nice day!" His cheerfulness was_ irritating_, but Hibari kept his composure and took his purchase calmly. Walking towards the door, he saw the worker from earlier shuffling quietly behind a magazine shelf away from his view.

Hibari arched an eyebrow at the herbivore. Seriously, that guy was afraid of him when he had _only_ bitten him _once_? Weird. Isn't that guy at the counter weirder since he_ completely_ ignored what happened a while ago?

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and strode out the door. Doesn't matter, it's not like they will meet again.

Crossing the streets, he climbed the tree he had fell asleep on again. Settling down on the branch, he took out his onigiri and unwrapped it. He took a bite and it tasted heavenly as it appeased his hunger.

Slowly taking a bite after bite, he savoured the flavour. It was too soon when all was left was the crumbs and the plastic wrapping.

Sadly, he was still hungry, he was growing after all. He wrapped the rubbish into a ball and aimed it perfectly into the bin beside the bench underneath him.

He stared up at the cloudy sky. It was a good day.

His mouth opened wide as he yawned was covered politely with his hand. Time for an afternoon nap.

So he laid back down on the branch and returned to his sleep.

—

Thankfully, no one realized he went missing. Actually, no one cared.

He was Tsuna the weird kid who says weird things, the dame one, the odd one out. Not like he cares much. So he just sneaked in the crowd of kids and walked back to their classroom.

For the rest of the day they were learning basic things like counting numbers from 1 to 10, so he just zoned out completely.

Really. Just how did that kid get two and eight mixed up? They were so far apart in the counting system and sound _nothing_ similar.

Groaning to himself he wondered why was_ he_ here? He could be learning more at _home_ on the minicomputer he won secretly. What a waste of time...

When it was time for parents to come pick them up, Tsuna was _overjoyed_. It was _that_ boring. He shot up from his chair and followed the other kids out the door to greet their parents and go home.

He watched as a spiky black haired boy ran into the arms of who he assumes to be his father. They chatted happily over something and the dad left carrying his son.

He will soon leave here with his mama and be back home as well. So he waited.

And waited...

And _waited_…

Almost all the children waiting outside were gone. All but him.

His mama must be overworking again. Not wanting to go back inside to wait like the rest, he trudged over to a nearby bench that was far from the cursed place, yet close enough for someone to spot him from there. In the distant that is.

Worrying his mama is a big no-no. She'll just get stressed and cry again. He doesn't want to see those tears. A smile fitted her better.

He sat down on the grey bench and lied back. He might as well study the clouds in the sky to pass time.

—

He was woken up _again_. This time by the sound of someone sitting down onto the bench which was underneath him. Why couldn't he be left in_ peace_ to _sleep_? Growling under his breath, he looked down to see _which_ herbivore had waked him up.

First thing he noticed was the puffy chocolate brown hair that framed a healthy rosy face of a child with a very small and slender stature. They wore a soft blue jumper with a hoodie that looked oversized on them and earthly coloured brown shorts. A matching pair of white shoes was worn on a pair of tiny feet.

Hibari stared closely at the face focusing on the clouds above. They had big round innocent brown eyes and chubby cheeks that made them count as one of the 'cute' kids. Problem was...he couldn't_ tell_ if they were a _gir_l or a _guy_.

_He _looks too feminine to be a male and _she_ just didn't seem right. Observing the child more closely, he concluded he was male.

He stared at the boy for a while before deciding to ignore the boy. That was until he took something out of his jumper's pocket. He watched curiously as he unfolded it to reveal a very detailed picture of a bird flying in the sky. Wanting to see it closer he called out to him.

"Oi herbivore."

Hibari felt a sudden shock when the child tilted his head up and looked straight into his eyes.

—

Two little feet swang back and forth on a bench as 'big round innocent' eyes scanned his surroundings in boredom. Tsuna was _still _waiting for his mama to come and pick him up from pre-school. She was very late today.

He had already finished playing his made up game of naming what each cloud in the sky looked like. One of them looked like a teacup, another looked like an elephant and so on.

With nothing to do, he just observed the clouds again. They were so big and fluffy looking. He wondered if it was as soft and cuddly as how he felt them in his dream.

Remembering his dream, he took out the folded picture he drew during pre-school today. He carefully unfolded it and smoothed out the creases. He stared intensely at the skylark.

Maybe he could figure out the meaning of his dream now. Something to do with clouds in the sky, a black and purple skylark representing a boy who saves him or something. What could it possibly mean... His only solid clue was those enchanting grey eyes. Anyone could have them!

"Oi herbivore."

Tsuna blinked. Was someone was referring to _him_? _Hardly_ anyone talks to him so it was very unlikely. Confused, he looked around his surroundings for anyone that could have called out. He heard a sudden rustle above him and looked up cautiously.

His breath hitched as their eyes met.

They were the _same _pairs of enchanting eyes he had saw in his dream. No doubt about it. He _couldn't_ forget them.

It was _him_.

_**-End-**_

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><p><strong><span>Prologue AN<span>  
><strong>

**Hi! **

**I've been away for a few years because I got into drawing, check my deviantART if you wish, same username. Now I'm Hibikiri, previously known as KMSK & something else I forgot eheh =="""**

**As you can see...I'm typing something...that is not the new chapter for 'Secret Powers' since I have lost my motivation, don't remember anything for the storyline and the way I wrote it makes me cringe so I have no idea how to continue it. So I'm sorry to say...it shall be on indefinite HIATUS or discontinued like my other fanfic.**

**I only have a few things to say about this new fanfic, I was inspired by quite a few fanfics with a non dame-Tsuna which I wish to write about. My main reason for writing now is stress-reliever when I can't draw or bored. So I'm sorry to say, this is not going to be updated regularly especially since I'm in Year 11 which is important.**

To be honest…I have no idea if this is a 1827 romance, friendship, family or what. I'm just writing my two favourite characters that MAY develop into something more as a couple REALLY further on since it's my OTP.

**I'm sorry for my grammar mistakes and the fact I don't know how to make kids sound like kids here... =="""**

**Thank you for stopping by, hope you liked it, a review would be nice?**

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><p><strong><span>To Hide 1 AN<span>  
><strong>

**Ahaha, so near the part where they meet properly but ok...just had to cut it off here for a cliff hanger...**

**I had a sudden huge inspiration today (right after my birthday the leap year) and continued this 800 words chapter I started to 4000 words...amazed at myself...=="""**

**Ehehe, I made Hibari seem like a stray cat, no? Tsuna is cute to me and yes he looked feminine in a few OFFICIAL pictures you know...I don't know why but Tsuna is pro with drawing...=="""**

**Hope you liked it and review?**


	2. To Hide 2

_**Hidden Sky**_

_**- To Hide Two -**_

* * *

><p>Tsuna's first impression of Hibari was that he was a nice gu-<p>

"You really are an herbivore."

Sharply Tsuna's head snapped up at the boy sitting above him and glared with the exclamation of _what_. Unfortunately his glare consisted of scrunched up eyebrows and pouting lips that definitely did not look anything like intimidating in Hibari's view.

Then again first impressions always change.

_Like two stupid idiots -in which they currently are- they continued to stare at each other blankly. Minutes of awkward silence passed without them knowing as they kept eye contact with frozen bodies._

_Tsuna didn't know what to think or say. It was that guy from his dream, what should he be _doing_? Was this a sign for him to interact with him? Ignore him? Which _one_ is it?_

_He stared deep into the cold silver eyes, waiting for something to happen, but the look was probably like his, glazed with a faraway look._

_As if in trance._

_He watched drowsily as the other boy blinked as if comprehending something and his eyes suddenly grew intense. _

_Tsuna's eyes widened and quickly looked away, breaking their deep connection. He then noticed himself taking deep breaths. He must have forgotten to breathe when they made eye contact._

_He turned his head back towards the mysterious boy. This time, observing him more closely. He noticed he was also doing the same thing, him being the subject instead._

_The boy was around his age __–__even though Tsuna himself was small for his age but ok…- or maybe older. Black hair matched his pale face with the enchanting silver eyes he saw. His white shirt was neatly buttoned up ending with a pair of purple shorts._

_Overall, he had a mature aura coming from him. He seemed like the neat and tidy kind of person if it wasn't for the fact his shirt was dirty and ripped on the edges. The same went for his shorts._

_"Herbivore…have we met before?"_

_A bit startled __–__which he tried to hide but had obviously failed seeing the corners of the other boy's mouth twitch upwards slightly– he realised it was the same voice that called him earlier. No wonder someone was calling out to him. This guy wasn't from this area. He doesn't know about his dame-self…that should be a good thing…right?_

_"__I don't think so," he'll just call him mental if he says he saw him in a dream, "what's your name?"_

_He watched as the boy paused. Then contemplated to himself. Finally he raised his head up and the words that came out of his mouth were engraved deeply into Tsuna's mind._

_"Hibari. Hibari Kyoya. You?"_

_Hibari. Skylark. Oh. _Oh.

_That was why there was a skylark transforming into a boy__…__why can't his dreams be more understandable._

_"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Tsuna for short."_

_The boy now known as Hibari seemed intimidating but__…_

_He had a feeling that they will get along. Very well._

Did he say they will get along _very_ well a while ago?

_I take it back._

"For your information, I eat meat as well, therefore I'm counted as an _omnivore_," Hibari blinked. That was unexpected, he thought this weak-looking herbivore would have started cowering with fear the moment he saw him - every herbivore he met who were his age did. Instead he had glared back with defiance in his round eyes and countered back.

He had spunk _but_ still an herbivore. See, he had just looked back down -shaking a bit.

Hibari was about the retort but a stomach growled loudly. Not just anyone's. _His_ stomach growled. He felt himself blushing lightly. The last thing he had eaten was that onigiri some hours ago. And it wasn't _enough_ to fill him. He needs to have a healthy diet but then again he is on a tight budget.

Underneath him, Tsuna heard Hibari's stomach growled, reminding him he was also hungry as well. He hadn't eaten his lunch yet...and he had enough for two people. He looked at his bag then at Hibari, who had his arm over his stomach as if trying to stop it from growling any further. Hibari reminded him of a hungry stray cat, not as if he'll say that aloud. That would just be rude.

Hesitantly Tsuna asked, "Umm, Hibari-san…" he was replied with an hn, asking for him to continue or maybe to shut up. He didn't know, he didn't care. This stranger is important - in a way - and he needed his help, so he'll give him his aid.

_Well first of all he needs food. Come on me. Speak louder._

"Would you like to eat with me?"

Stunned by the sudden outburst, Hibari paused for a bit and was about to say no but his stomach interrupted him. _Again_.

"I have an extra hamburger and snacks," Tsuna held out his opened lunchbox full of -very appetising and _tempting _in Hibari's case- food to him. Hibari narrowed his eyes cautiously at him. Looking hungrily at his lunchbox promising free food then back at his face, then back again to the lunchbox.

"….it's not poisoned or in any way harmful…why would I even do that to my own lunch…" he added helpfully and watched as the older boy starting to climb his way down the tree.

Tsuna watched as Hibari landed on his feet at the bottom of the tree before striding with pride towards him. He plopped down beside him on the empty spot on his right with his arm folded, as if he wasn't about to be offered free food.

A bit exasperated, Tsuna took out a hamburger and held it out to Hibari, encouraging him to take it.

_Why do I feel like I'm tempting a stray to come and eat? …here kitty kitty, here Hibari-kitty. Come and get it-what am I thinking..._

Finally, Hibari took the hamburger offered to him, staring at it curiously - he had seen but never eaten them before - then took a small bite. It was _delicious_. The cheesy texture melted with the meat in between soft bread and fresh lettuce in his mouth. The combination was just right. He took a bigger bite.

Tsuna himself took tiny bites from his share of delicious hamburger as he watched his companion bit cautiously at his food then sparkled with amazement at the meal he held. It was amusing really...and nice.

He never ate lunch - this can be called lunch even though it's already passed lunch time right? - with someone his age before. It seemed peaceful, just like when he eats alone at that forest.

Seeing Hibari finishing his hamburger, Tsuna passed him a juice box, a chocolate bar and a packet of cookies. In return he received a look of surprise and questioning look from Hibari.

"Too much. Can't finish it all." Which was true. He couldn't eat all his lunch by himself and he didn't want to disappoint his mama when she had put all that effort today to make it for him. _Where is mama anyway? She's so late…maybe I should go home myself..._

Tsuna got up. Hibari stared at him passively as he placed his backpack onto his back.

"Um, I've got to go now…I'll see you tomorrow?"

Hibari gave a nod in reply and Tsuna turned around prepared to walk back to his house.

"Herbivore."

He stopped and looked back at Hibari.

"?"

"…thank you for the food…Tsuna…"

Tsuna smiled brightly, "No problem, bye!"

He started running with a heart full of warmth and a face filled with smiles. His hands clutched his bag with happiness.

Someone other than adults had talked to him _and_ thanked him.

For the first time. _Ever._

He felt _so _happy. He glanced back wanting to shout something to Hibari.

The bench was empty. The food he gave him was also gone.

He had already left.

—

"Tsu-kun, mama is very sorry!"

Tsuna came back home to receive a huge hug and apologies from his mama, gushing on how worried she was for leaving him that long outside.

"Oh what will I tell your father if you got kidnapped?"

Nana didn't see her son frowning at the mention of his father in her embrace. _That _man_ would've been too busy to care. He didn't even come back on his wedding anniversary. He made you _cry _mama._

Turned out Nana just came back from her job and was about to go pick Tsuna up but met face to face with her son instead when she opened the door.

So now Tsuna found himself sitting on the table with a fat slice of chocolate cake that his mama bought as a treat -now used as an apology- in front of him.

He blinked.

He _completely _forgot when he got here from the door...

Dismissing his sudden short-term memory, Tsuna picked up a fork and shovelled a piece of his cake into his mouth. A pleased sound vibrated from the back of his throat at the sweet and sugary goodness. Hibari should try this.

_Hibari huh…I should ask mama if I can bring a slice to school tomorrow._

With that made up in his head, Tsuna forked the last piece of cake into his mouth. He climbed up a stool near the sink and washed his plate clean before carefully placing it back in the dish rack beside him.

Carefully lowering himself onto the floor -nearly slipping while doing so- and headed for the bathroom with each step springy with giddiness. After brushing his teeth perfectly, he headed for his room. Passing his mama's room along the way, his smile faded to a frown. He could hear his mama talking on the phone. To _that man_.

"..._yes dear, everything is fine over here, yes don't worry about missing our anniversary, I'm happy that you remembered to call…yes…I miss you too…I love you, I trust you…_"

Oh. That _man_ was still alive? He had the decency to call _now_ of all times? _Why didn't he call for the past 10 months hmm? _Tsuna scowled, his eyebrows scrunching up. He really shouldn't have stopped and eavesdropped to check on his mama. He hated how she always forgives him, hanging onto hope…but that was what made her dear.

Tsuna let out a breath of frustration. He couldn't take their talking anymore and started to walk away.

"_Hmm…how is work at Vongola going? Still mining oilfields with them?_"

He froze. Vongola. What kind of name is that for an oilfield mining company? It sounded…suspicious…very suspicious.

Not wanting to hear anymore, he moved out of hearing range and dashed for his room. Shutting the door behind him he headed for his closet and opened it. Hidden deep within was nothing as far as many eyes could see, except for Tsuna's.

Moving some clothes out of the way he found a small slit in the bottom back right of his closet and used his hand to slide it sidewards towards the left to reveal a secret compartment. Lifting a cloth -a covering for safety purposes- he took out a shiny black mini laptop that he had received as a present from _someone _-ok more like he found it broken on the streets and took it home and fixed it. Now why would a child his age have known something like this is unknown. Oh yea, he _is_ a prodigy.

Resting the laptop on his lap, he turned it on, waiting for the system to load properly. A welcome sign appeared on the screen before switching to his desktop filled with applications and softwares.

_Vongola eh__…__let's see if you really are mining all these times__…_father_…_

Continuous clacking noises could be heard as Tsuna furiously searched for 'Vongola' on websites. The light from the laptop screen striked Tsuna's face in his dark room causing his features and the area around him to glow white. His brown eyes scanned the information appearing in front of him swiftly without skipping anything. After a while later he stopped and groaned with disappointment.

_Nothing._ He found nothing. Not a single information that seemed important. Apart from the fact 'vongola' meant clam in Italian and 'vongole' is its plural form.

A sudden thought popped into his head. The word was in Italian, but when said in Japanese, people tended to change syllables around to allow it to roll out of their tongues more naturally in their language. Then, that _man_ is working in Italy?

_I really don't think it's a clam-only-fishing company, there has to be something more…_

His eyes wandered to the bottom of the screen to check the time.

It was late. 10pm seems quite early but yet it was quite late for a young boy like him.

Closing his laptop in defeat, he placed it back into the compartment to recharge before arranging everything again to hide it again. He slid underneath his blankets and settled his head comfortably on the pillow.

He _will_ find the answer tomorrow. Then he succumbed to a deep sleep.

—

Tsuna was absent minded all morning.

He tuned out his classmates. He tuned out his teacher who tried to ask him questions a few times. He even _ignored_ his bullies. Well usually he does tries to ignore them but this time he _ignored _ignored them.

He didn't even react to a purposely thrown eraser that hit his head -it didn't even hurt to his surprise. He had a feeling they were going to confront him later at lunch for not being 'entertaining' without his 'amusing' reactions.

Well he didn't mind. Everything they do is fine as long as they don't take his food.

Tsuna eyed his bag where the cake his mum packed for him resided. Hopefully Hibari will be at the same place after school. He really wants to share this sweet goodness with his first friend.

Wait. Friend?

_I don't think we are even close enough to _be _friends. We just met yesterday too. T his is only assuming on my part._

His shoulders outwardly slumped slightly and a noticeable pout made its way to his face. Hibari was the _only_ person he had met without knowing he was 'Dame-Tsuna', someone who everyone must avoid because he is a clumsy strange kid or else they'll be teased too.

_This is a saddening thought…calling myself clumsy and strange..._

A large thump resounded into his ear. Tsuna looked to his right to see a fist connecting to the wall. He followed it up the arms to the familiar face of his main bully. The leader and his 'Let's bully Tsuna' groupie had him cornered somewhere where the playground-duty teachers couldn't see them.

Really, what was wrong with him lately? Or his memory to be precise. He didn't even notice their presence and he didn't _remember_ when or how he got into this corner of his current situation. He was also _in_ a corner. Haha, get it?

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Tsuna bent down just narrowly missing a fist in his face. He winced at the sound of the knuckle meeting the wall.

_Who's the idiot now? _He silently watched the leader shake his hand up and down in pain.

Idiot.

"Who are you calling idiot _dame-Tsuna_?"

Oh did he say that out loud. _Oops…_

The leader snapped his fingers like a boss -obviously the kid had watched too much TV trying to act all high and mighty- and two boys came from behind him and jumped onto Tsuna.

Surprised by the sudden attack, Tsuna wasn't given a chance to escape. Struggling in the tight lock they had on his arms, he also tried kicking at them with his legs. Unfortunately, they were pinned down by his captives' feet stepping on them, which _hurt_. They should try having _their_ feet being stomped on _purposely_.

Damn his stupid stick thin arms. They had no strength in them, where did his manliness go? Body structure is smaller _and_ frailer compared to these boys in front of him - and others as well . Can't he have _some_ muscles at least?

"Payback time~"

Wait. What did he do to him? If it was about the hand, he did that to himself.

Tsuna closed his eye shut as a fist approached him. God, how is he going to explain to his mama about getting a black eye. Last time he told her he fell, she isn't gullible to fall for that lie twice…right?

_Oh. My. God. The pain hurts _so _much…are they even trying to hit me? Did he even _aim properly_ at my face? I feel nothing…_

Feeling the absent impact and pain on his face, Tsuna cracked opened his eyes. Well, apparently the knight in shining armour who saves a not-so-princess-like male wields a pair of tonfas instead of a sword.

Standing there in front of him was Hibari blocking a hit meant for him. Right arm tensed and steadied in front of him to stop the impact with a tonfa.

"What do you think you are doing herbivore?"

And the silence that had befallen on them was broken.

"Who are you? Go away," the leader tried to push Hibari away only to fall on his butt with an aching cheek. A shadow fell on him and he looked up. An evil smirk was plastered on Hibari's face with his eyes gleaming with promise of pain while being surrounded by a menacing dark aura causing everyone to flinch but Tsuna.

"Oh? Crowding _and_ committing violence on school grounds, I'll bite you _all_ to death."

"Get him!"

And the beast was unleashed.

Tsuna -who was left forgotten after the two boys joined the fight- watched in amusement as Hibari fought a very much one-sided brawl with the other boys. He had rendered two unconscious already with a single hit and the remaining three were shivering with fear.

Whack. Whack. Hibari was enjoying this sudden chance to hit as he knocked another two herbivores down with one hit.

_Now only one remains. The leader of this pack._

Humming sadistically, he turned to his last prey. However a cluster of rocks were thrown into his view. Scowling, he dodged and blocked some with his tonfas.

Then he threw one of them at the culprit. He was rewarded with a satisfying cling as his tonfa made contact with the boy's face before he slumped down onto the ground with an extra red mark on his face.

Smirking, he turned to face Tsuna, who suddenly grabbed his hand and ran. With him following unwillingly of course. Irritated being the one to be lead, Hibari growled herbivore threateningly.

Glancing back and seeing the scowl on his face, Tsuna explained while pulling him along, "You aren't from our school, you just beat up a group of kids, better get away from the crime scene before we get seen."

Fine with the logical explanation, Hibari allowed himself to be lead to who knows where.

This interesting herbivore is the only exception.

—

Tsuna stopped running once they reached his haven and walked them towards the base of the large tree.

Letting go of Hibari's hand -if felt funny after letting go- he gently placed down his bag he found on the way here and took out a small package. He turned around suddenly, causing Hibari to slightly jolt from the abruptness.

"Thankyou for saving me Hibari-san, please accept my gift," he blinked at the small white box tied with a red ribbon being thrust towards him. He never gotten presents before, gifts included.

Before he could decide how to react, he heard a gasp and turned his focus on the herbivore.

"H-Hibari-san, your face is bleeding!"

Automatically Hibari touched his own face and felt something wet dripping on from his left cheek. He looked at his fingers to find a few specks of blood. He must have gotten a scratch from that rock throw a while ago. _Che…my reflexes has fallen._

"Hibari-san, please sit down, I'll be right back."

Irritated that he was being ordered to do something, but before he could complain, Tsuna shoved the gift box into his hands and ran off. Eyes wide and instead of standing there alone like an idiot, he went over to the lake and washed his hand before he sat down underneath the tree -not as if he was obeying the command from before.

Hibari stared intently at the box and tugged on the ends of the red ribbon. He watched curiously as the ribbon unwrapped itself from that action, leaving the white box bare.

Opening the box carefully, he found a beautifully decorated chocolate cake. It looked tasty.

"Hibari-san!"

Wanting to yell at the herbivore to be quiet stopped short when his curious eyes fell on a plant Tsuna had in his grasps.

"What is that for herbivore?"

"Disinfection," Tsuna stated obviously as he kneeled down beside Hibari and took out a wet tissue.

"How do you know it's the right one?"

"Bored one day, read a book somewhere that this plant species can be used against infection. Now hold still."

Amazed at the boy's broad knowledge, Hibari didn't notice his cut being washed gently by Tsuna.

_Wao. This kid is different from how he looks. _He was interrupted from his thoughts by Tsuna's sudden warning

"This will sting a bit."

Tsuna broke the stem of the plant and rubbed the juice inside onto the cut. Hibari winced at the sudden sting and let out a small hiss of discomfort, but it was all over after Tsuna stuck a bandage over the wound.

"There you go," Hibari blushed slightly at the close proximity of Tsuna's smiling face. Turning his face to the side he muttered a quiet thanks and Tsuna's smile became brighter.

Settling into a peaceful moment, they started eating as if they had lunch together for years. Tsuna handed a fork to Hibari before grabbing another box containing a chocolate cake for himself.

They ate in silence enjoying the chocolaty taste in their mouths.

"So Hibari-san, how old are you?" Tsuna looked up trying to make conversation.

"Six."

"Oh, you're one year older than me."

Hibari's fork nearly dropped with shock. He had thought he was four or even _three_…but then again he was too _smart_ to be three…wait.

"Herbivore."

Funny, Tsuna didn't expect Hibari to be the type to initiate a talk or even socialise with other people. Of course, he shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

"Yes?"

"What are you hiding."

It wasn't a question but a demand. Either way, Tsuna was shocked, his fork stopping halfway to his mouth.

"What do you mean? I'm not hiding anything…"

Eyes narrowed accusingly at Tsuna's voice of innocence.

"…the other you-"

He felt himself start to sweat when those eyes stared deeply into his own.

"-the one who made wise judgments-"

Unconsciously, he felt himself gulping down his uneasiness.

"-smart enough to know simple medical herbs."

_Uh oh…he's catching on…think Tsuna THINK-_

"How could I not overlook this different behaviour compared the _you,_ you behaved as this morning."

_Aha. A loophole._ Tsuna grinned cheekily on the inside but kept up his face of innocence.

"Hibari-san, how did you know how I acted this morning? I never saw a glimpse of you until just then."

"I was watching you." _Time to hit a nerve._

"Wait a minute…" Tsuna lifted his finger to his chin to emphasis his act of confusion, his eyes wondered around above him before widening them in comprehension and abruptly stood up.

"Were you…_stalking_ me this morning? How could you Hibari-san!"

An arrow struck bullseye also known as Hibari's pride as a man. Of all things, that was the most unexpected, to be accused of being a lowly _stalker_. He felt his eyebrow twitch with irritation as he saw Tsuna looking at him as if he had committed a shameful act.

"I was merely _observing_. Not _stalking_."

Tsuna had tried. He really really tried. But the look of mortification that appeared on Hibari's face broke him into giggles. Then his fast response to defend himself sent Tsuna burst out laughing.

Appalled and realisation hit Hibari _hard_. Immediately his glare intensified on the laughing _fish_ flailing for air beside him. _Why this brat!_

"Herbivore…" He growled menacingly.

Laughing ceased, Tsuna gulped, feeling the same dark aura from before. Well at least he knows what will happen later…no, soon…

—

This time was Tsuna's turn to wince as he caressed the bump on his head. Hibari hits _hard_, he'll have to be wary when treading on the skylark's danger zone later in the future. _He had hit me with the same strength as earlier but why am I still awake? …have I become more pain tolerant?_

Neutral again, they finished eating their lunch comfortably in peaceful silence, both injured in some way. A sudden thought hit Tsuna and he turned right away to Hibari who cocked his eyebrow at his sudden movement.

"Hibari-san...are you being chased?"

Shocked that Tsuna thought he was chased even after seeing him fighting with so much power, he replied with a quick and straightforward no. He would have bitten them to death for even chasing him.

"Are you targeted?"

"No."

"Lost?"

"_No_."

"Then…did you run away?"

Hibari held a silent no before it escaped from his mouth. Hesitating he turned to observe Tsuna's face. The concern look on his face was honest and definitely well intentioned fitting his personality so far. So he reluctantly replied.

"…yes…"

"Why?"

Curiosity killed the cat, Tsuna knows but he wanted to help. This one-sided friendship he felt and the need to help this boy from his dream was strong. After all, they said the knowledge brought the cat back. For him, probably with an extra bruise.

However, seeing Hibari's solemn face his struggle to reply he hastily added, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

Silence filled the air yet again with Tsuna mentally berating himself for asking for something in a personal discomfort zone.

"So Hibari-san…you don't have anywhere else to go?" He got a nod of confirmation.

"T-then, would you like to come live with me?"

Before Hibari could respond, a distant sound of a bell ringing met their ears. Tsuna's face fell when he realised that his time with Hibari -who he shall call his friend secretly- was cut short. He watched as the other boy got up dusting his short before facing him.

"Herbivore, you better head back now." Tsuna pouted childishly. He didn't want to go back there, he wanted to stay and spend more time with Hibari.

"Come on…I'll walk you back." Hibari reached out a hand for Tsuna to take.

Sighing, Tsuna surrendered and took the hand reluctantly. Hibari pulled him up and this time to Tsuna's surprise, he was the one who led them slowly on the correct path out of the forest. How had he remembered the path that he particularly rushed them right past so quickly?

They reached the gate swiftly and fast thanks to Hibari's fast pace walking while dragging Tsuna along -maybe it was for revenge by he doubts it… Still, Tsuna found himself gaping silently at the taller boy's back. _I swear we ran through there, he shouldn't have time to even __memorise__ and mark down features of that path to come back here!_

"...go…" Tsuna snapped out of his stupor and felt a nudge behind him. He looked back to see Hibari starting to walk away.

"Erm, Hibari-san! Will I see you again?"

Hibari stopped and nodded before resuming his way back into the forest.

"See you again…Sawada Tsunayoshi…" He then disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Tsuna himself turned back and reached for the gate but paused when he heard the wind whispered something into his ears.

_I'll think about your offer…_

It was definitely Hibari's voice. Tsuna swore upon it. The wind had never spoken to him before, why would it start now. Smiling to himself, he opened the gate with more enthusiasm and walked back into the hellhole full of 'charming children'.

—

Ever since Hibari appeared, everything seemed lighter and happier for Tsuna.

Here he was snickering into his hand while his bullies were up at the front being lectured by their teacher. It amused him to no end, and he wouldn't get in trouble for laughing since no one gave a single glance his way.

Actually he was waiting for them to point blame on him but they never did. They just stood shaking with their eyes meeting the floor as Miss droned on and on about why they shouldn't fight. He saw the leader shift his eyes nervously towards the window briefly and Tsuna's eyes followed.

Another round of abrupt giggles tumbled softly out of his mouth. Hibari was standing there right outside the window. His passive face screamed I-dare-you-to-blame-me-or-the-other-herbivore-I'll-just-bite-you-to-death-again.

He watched as one of the bullies look towards the window and met Hibari right in the eyes, causing him to look straight back down shivering with fear. _This is really amusing. _Laughter shined in Tsuna's eyes. It had been a long time since he laughed this much.

"It was him! He was the one who started the fight!" One boy bravely pointed to Hibari and everyone's eyes turned their attention on the window. No one was there.

"Now Su-kun, you shouldn't make up lies. There is no one there."

"B-but...he was there just a while ago…"

As soon as everyone's eyes –except for Tsuna- looked away, Hibari popped back up and continued sending glares down the boys' spines at the front. Halting his glaring attacks, his eyes swooped over and locked eyes with Tsuna.

Still giggling like mad, he smiled like mad and waved cheerfully as he could without being caught. He watched as Hibari blinked towards his bullies before back at him with a small accomplished smirk on his face. Then he disappeared from the window, this time he didn't come back.

Tsuna didn't mind, he was just glad there was someone else to make jokes with. He leaned back on his chair, prepared for anything that shall be thrown at him.

Mama picked him up right away this time to Tsuna's disappointment. He couldn't talk to Hibari now, but maybe tomorrow during lunch again.

He held onto his mama's bigger hand nervously as one of his bullies walked passed and leered at him. Right after, he heard a loud smack and turned around to see him clutching his head in pain. It was obvious who did the deed.

A smile stretched across his face and walked home with his mama in a lighter tone. Answering questions she asked him with a positive tone to Nana's surprise. She hadn't heard Tsuna sound so cheerful for a while, so she smiled even more brightly then her usual ones much to Tsuna's delight.

It was a lovely family moment they just shared.

Back home safe and sound, they ate another treat she bought.

"Now Tsu-kun, mama needs to go out tonight ok?" Tsuna looked up with wide eyes with a spoon sticking out of his mouth. Tilting his head he let out a muffled question that sounded suspiciously like 'work'.

"Yes Tsu-kun, I'm going to work. Dinner is in the fridge if you get hungry. Mama has to go now bye bye~"

Nodding and with a kiss on his forehead, he watched his mama walked around gathering stuff before she went out the door. With the click of the door closing, it left Tsuna sitting by himself at the table in silence.

—

He was home alone.

The whole house was really quiet, like a graveyard. Having finished dinner by himself, he was now onto his dessert. He was edgy though. His mama haven't had work at night for quite a while, it only happened twice so far, this time being the third time. However he had a babysitter for the past two times.

Tonight it felt eerie and _too_ quiet. He felt no presence and felt crept out. He shifted nervously in his seat as he listened to the quiet ticking of time going pass along with the rain falling onto the house.

It was getting dark already. He should turn the lights on soon. He scooped up his pudding into his mouth and savoured the taste.

_Knock. Knock._

Then he froze when he heard the sound coming from the window. He waited for a sign or for it to continue. But it didn't.

Ignoring it he continued to eat his pudding, thinking it was nothing.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Tsuna froze then slowly placed his spoon down beside the place. Something was wrong.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Quietly he stalked towards the window where the knocking was still continuing in a slow and steady rhythm.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Fear gripped his heart. His _heart_ was pounding in his ears.

_Silence..._

He had reached the window but the knocking had stopped. He let out a breath of relief. Nothing was wrong. It must have been a stray animal passing by. Turning around, he headed back for his pudding.

_BAM_

His body jolted and yelped in surprise. Turning quickly around, he cautiously approached the curtain hiding a shadow from view. Taking great effort, he gripped the edge of the curtain in his hands.

_Ok Tsuna. It's not a ghost or anything. Probably just a shadow of a tree branch or something._

Taking a breath in, his eyes opened with determination.

_One. Two. Three!_

With a quick swipe, the curtains were pushed away.

Tsuna's eyes widened and gasped.

—

"Please please _please_ come through the door next time!"

Tsuna growled dismayed as he mopped up the wet patch made by the figure beside him.

"The door bell didn't ring…"

He looked up and glared at the dripping wet face of Hibari Kyoya.

"Did you even try?"

"…"

Sighing, he finished drying off the floor and looked at his unexpected guest.

Hibari's clothes were soaked and stuck to him like a second skin. His hair was wet and droplets of water were still dripping. The whole person was creating a puddle at where he was standing to Tsuna's dismay. He'll have to clean that up later.

Looking closely, he could see him shivering oh ever so slightly. A few moments later, it looked like he was trying to stifle a sneeze.

Hibari felt weak looking like this in front of Tsuna. He watched as the herbivore scurried off to do something, while he became preoccupied with his thoughts and remembered what happened a while ago.

_He was cold and wet. He was planning to sleep outside as well tonight _but_ it rained. He scowled at the lovely timing of the weather. If there was a god, he was against him._

_Having no where else to go, he went on the search for the only person who could help him willingly -Tsuna. Getting down the tree, he stalked off under the rain to start the search. If he remembered, the herbivore walked this way back home yesterday. It took ages but he had found it at last._

_In front of him was the 'Sawada's house. It looked quite ordinary actually. Taking care to not slip on the wet path, he approached the doorstep. Tip toeing, he pressed the door bell. There was no sound. He pressed it again and again._

_Irritated he walked to the window next to it and started knocking on it -he remembered when he tried to knock on the door before, no one heard him. No response, but someone was definitely inside._

_So he knocked again, trying to keep his calm and made steady knocks on the door. Still no response._

_With a irritated growl, he punched the window and heard a feminine shriek. Finally the curtain inside opened up for him to see a shocked 'tuna'._

_"Hibari-san what are you doing here!"_

_"Raining…"_

_"Oh no! You're drenched! Quickly come inside." He was then pulled inside the warmth and safety of the house._

Back to reality, he felt something dropped onto his head. He pulled it down and realised it was a giant soft towel. Then he felt himself being tugged towards a certain direction by Tsuna. They stopped in front of a door and Tsuna turned to face him.

"Go take a shower. I'll bring spare clothes for you."

Without a single hesitation, he walked inside the bathroom to clean himself.

—

Hibari tugged on the long sleeves of the blue and white striped shirt he was currently wearing. Brown pants just ended at his ankles. The clothes that were given to him strangely fitted him quite well for some reason.

"Mama bought me a bigger size but I haven't grown big enough yet." Tsuna answered seeing his questioning look. _That makes more sense…_

"Wait here. I'll be right back." Tsuna scooted out of his room, leaving Hibari standing there. Using his time wisely, Hibari observed Tsuna's room. It was simple, but a tad bit messy.

Right across the doorway on the opposite wall was a large window with pale green curtains that could be clasped apart to allow sunlight enter the room. Right below the window was a brown wooden desk littered with stationary and other school books. However he saw papers filled with red markings showing him how bad the herbivore's academic score was. On the left hand side adjacent to the window was a large sliding closet that took up the whole wall.

On the opposite side stood a single-sized bed with comfy soft blue blankets and pillows. Above it were shelves hammered into the wall supporting manga and more books. Right in the middle of the room was a small cream coloured square table with blue pillows surrounding it. Up above the table was a ceiling light that was currently providing light for the room.

What caught his eyes was a brown teddy bear that sat on top of the bed with a purple ribbon tied around its neck. It seemed very…familiar. Vaguely, he remembered seeing it before when he was younger…when was the problem. Before he could ponder anymore on the subject, Tsuna came in the room with a tray of food in his hands.

Carefully laying the tray down on the cream table, he gestured for Hibari to sit down across him. Sitting right down, food was shoved right under his nose.

"Eat." Appreciating the smell of hot creamy potato soup and the sizzling hamburger steak in front of him, he dug in. The soup was delicious but the steak. It was. _God._ If Hibari had anything to say, he could have said he went to heaven right after the first bite into the meaty beef, but then he tasted burnt meat.

Tsuna twiddled his thumbs nervously as he watched Hibari eating calmly on the outside.

"I hope the steak was fine, there wasn't any side dishes left so I quickly made it…does it taste…alright? It was my first time trying to cook it..."

Just how many times will this herbivore surprise him in one day. Yet again, Hibari found himself shocked as he stared at the nervous herbivore sitting across him. _He_ made this delicious meal -even though he burnt it- _and_ it was his first time? Wao. Boy has talent. _…despite his school marks..._

Seeing Tsuna staring at him expectantly he muttered silently before finishing his semi-burnt steak.

"It's good."

The result was pleasing, seeing a bright smile beaming on his face. It was so different from the dull expressions he held all day when he watched over him this morning. His chest felt lighter every time he saw Tsuna smile. It felt…pleasant.

He started on the pudding in front of him. The soft creamy texture melted in his mouth. It tasted sweet. Sweet as the smile that was in front of him. Now he think about it, the only sweets he ever ate was from this boy. From now on, anything sweet was going to remind him of Tsuna.

Food finished, they went downstairs and cleaned the dishes together. Both standing on stools right next to each other, Tsuna washed the dishes with soap before handing them to Hibari for him to rinse and dry them and placing them on the rack. They seemed to be getting quite well, awkward but well Tsuna noted.

Back upstairs in Tsuna's room, Hibari felt himself step onto something. Lifting his foot away, he picked up a folded piece of paper left unceremoniously on the ground. Opening it up, he arched his eyebrows in wonder. It was the drawing he saw Tsuna was looking at when he first saw him.

From up close, the picture was breathtaking. A black and purple skylark was drawn flying through a grey cloudy sky that caused it to stand out. Details were accurate and clear to see. The picture was then abruptly snatched away from his hands by Tsuna whose face was bright red.

"You didn't see anything…it's not even that good." Tsuna breathed out the last words slowly, his head hanging down with depression.

Hibari arched his eyebrow. This boy has serious low self-esteem apparently. _It must have been because of the continuous bulling by those kids_. He growled at that thought. Bullying was something he didn't approve of. Punishments yes, bullying, _no._

Deciding to drop the subject -seeing Tsuna's face about to break into tears- he initiated a talk instead.

"Would you like to do something?" Relieved when the other boy's features steered away from sadness and seemed to light up in awe instead.

"Hibari-san would like to do something…with me? Together?"

He never liked socialising with others. He liked to be by himself, but something…something in this petite boy made him feel protective of him. He wanted him to be happy. He _wanted_ to spend time with him.

"Yes. Together."

Tsuna was his only exception.

He'll protect him.

—

They had played video games Tsuna had on his play station, challenging each other mainly in fighting games due to Hibari's interest in them.

Tsuna pouted with disappointment when Hibari's character dealt the final blow to his character, causing his health to reach zero and his part of the screen to flash 'you lose' while Hibari's flashed 'you win'.

"How come Hibari-san is so good at this…" This was his fifth lost to Hibari. He had only won twice against him sadly.

Instead of a retort, a yawn erupted from the boy beside him as he lifted his hand to cover his mouth. So Tsuna turned off his play station and packed it up in a box and placed it back in his closet. He turned around to see Hibari rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Um…Hibari-san, you can sleep on the bed with me if you want?"

Not really concentrating on the words properly, he nodded and dragged himself onto the far end of the bed and promptly lied down to sleep. Tsuna switched off the lights and closed the door in case his mama came home and peeked in to see another boy in his bed.

Climbing into bed, he laid down beside Hibari's still body who he presumed to have fallen into a deep sleep already. He pulled the covers over them and snuggled until he felt comfortable.

He closed his eyes, ready for a deep sleep.

—

Late at night, a white light glowed in the darkness.

Tsuna had his mini laptop out again.

Unexpectedly, he couldn't fall asleep. He had already heard his mama come back home and walked straight into her room. Everything was so peacefully quiet but yet there he laid, eyes wide opened. He was wide awake thinking about the term 'Vongola' that he had failed to discover last night.

Realising he wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon, he had quietly crept out of bed, trying not to disturb the boy sleeping peacefully beside him. Without his notice, a pair of eyes watched him as he scurried off the bed to get his laptop. Like a wolf stalking its prey.

Same as last night, he continued his furious search for any details on the 'Vongola'. This time he hacked into other systems and to his surprise, he stumbled across many files connected to that keyword. The only problem was that they were all private-locked and password protected.

He had finally found a lead and he wasn't about to give up on it. He faked cracking his fingers and prepared for a very long hacking session with the computer. He seriously never tried hacking into private files before but this sounded fun. It was _on._

With every error messages popping up, only fueled Tsuna's determination to crack the code. Every second that passed motivated him to type even faster. He attacked the files with many different possibilities he could think of. New ideas continuously popped up in his head, but each was a failure. He kept typing anyway.

Time passed and Tsuna slumped down on his cushion seat sighing with tiredness. He cracked opened one eye and stared intently at the laptop sitting on the table innocently. Hacking is seriously hard, he concluded. His eyes travelled to the bottom right hand corner of the screen with the glaring numbers of 11pm.

His eyes travelled over the screen, searching for clues yet again. He had nearly tried all these random combinations of them. Trying one last time, he typed in 'I-SKYFlame-Will1'. It wasn't going to work, he knew. Yawning, he reached his hand out to shut the lid and go to sleep.

_System loading. Please wait a moment._

Tsuna's hand flinched when the message flashed across the screen. Blinking his sleep away, realisation in form of a rock hit his head. He had succeeded. _I…did it…_

Jaw slackened in disbelief, he watched in awe as the percentage bar slowly filled up to the brim and a brand new folder popped up in its place with the title 'Vongola'.

He really did it.

Forcing himself out of his stupor, he pinched his cheek, _hard_. Nope, he wasn't dreaming. He had really broken into the so called Vongola's secret files. A _five year old boy_ broke into secret files. There is something wrong with that, truly.

Awakened -with an aching cheek he inflicted upon himself- he scanned through the newly acquired information right in front of him. The folder contained many files all labelled with codes and shortened language. It wasn't hard for Tsuna to figure out that the file named 'H.o.V.' stood for 'History of Vongola'.

Figuring it must be the best place to start reading, he clicked opened the file. What popped up was a large document with a vintage theme with it. Groaning with how much information that had to be read, he studied the emblem carefully.

A golden bullet sat right in the middle of a dark blue shield with a pair of golden snipers crossing each other above it to form an x-shape. Golden swirls surrounded them and on the bottom was the word 'Vongola' engraved on a golden plate.

Tsuna noted how there was a golden clam with wings sitting at the very top of the emblem right on the spot above where the snipers crisscrossed. How very fitting for the name 'Vongola'.

He slowly scanned the beginning of the passage.

_'The Vongola Famiglia has been in existent for over many generations and is considered the most powerful Famiglia of all times. It has been first created by the Vongola Primo to act as a vigilante organization in order to help other people. However, ever since the Vongola Secondo came into power, the Vongola had been more involved with violence and crime, turning it into a mafia-based group._

_Their influence cannot be compared by other Famiglias in size, traditions, or power. Due to this, the Vongola boss is considered the 'Boss of all Bosses' and had a very powerful figure in the world, as many Famiglias would fear or admire him or her. '_

Tsuna leaned back, eyes blinking wide.

Wow. What kind of company is this? It sounded so…dark. His father was working there?

Tsuna shrugged and continued to read, but stopped when he remembered something. He scrolled back up and scanned the beginning again. He spotted it and gasped with surprise.

"Vongola is involved with…the mafia?"

_-End-_

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Yea…stressed lately so here =="""**

**I honestly don't know why this chapter is so long but I think it's because I want to start something interesting next chapter? :P**

**I just realised I wrote Hibari as a Stray Cat - Hungry Cat - Territorial Cat - Wet Cat - Sleepy Cat**

**Just saying xD**

**Also my teacher told my class on how grammatically incorrect to use '**them**' and '**their**' when referring to a single person even though you are trying to not be gender biased etc…I did that at the end of Chapter 1, when Hibari described Tsuna…ehehehe….ignore that please. OTL**

**HELP:** Should I use USA or Australian spelling format to type this? I keep having trouble between typing '**realised**' and '**realized**' because of auto-correction, but I like '**colour**' over '**color**'…what do you think? Should I just ignore it?

—

_**FANFICTION POLL**_

If anyone has realised, I have put up a poll on my profile asking about which other fanfiction stories I should type along with Hidden Sky. **(So I have 2 to do at one time, I won't get bored or something?)** But of course, eventually I'll write the other ideas as well…in the future :D

**NOTE:**

You may vote for** TWO** of your favourite fanfic ideas.

You may also vote in your** review** if you do not have an account.

This **ends** when I post the next chapter which is** in one month**?

**These summaries are also on my profile, if you wish for a preview of it, I might upload it on Tumblr.**

_**- Your Best Nightmare -**_

_**Summary:**_

dead. Life had never seem duller. The village hates him even though he had been protecting it for years. Given up, he headed for the cliff...only to land on the chest of the legendary Vampire Lord Hibari, who is in the middle of his hunt...oh _shit_

_**Genre: **_Hurt & Comfort/Romance/a bit of humor

_**Chapters: **_?

_**- The Royal Pair -**_

_**Summary:**_

Prince Tsuna was always lonely but one day a kind boy cheered him up and gave him a locket. Tsuna held onto it, wishing to meet him again. They did, only to find out the kind boy was the feared Prince of Namimori. Hibari Kyoya. His

_**Genre: **_Humor/Romance

_**Chapters: **_Long

_**- Step by Step -**_

_**Summary:**_

"Reborn what is this folder for? And why is there a picture of Hibari-san in it?" "Oh he's your new target." "Oh ok...wait WHAT?" So it begins the even more hectic days after becoming a boss & learning to fall in love. TYL18TYL27

_**Genre: **_Humor/Romance

_**Chapters: **_15-20?

_**- Missions Sent From Hell -**_

_**Summary:**_

AU. Trained since young, it was time for Tsuna to graduate from Mafia High and get assigned a partner to go on missions. "So why are _you_ my partner again?" "Cause you suck." Something tells Tsuna the missions won't go so smoothly. 1827 Crack

_**Genre:**_ Humor/Adventure/Slight Romance?

_**Chapters: **_?

—

**Review please! I would like some feedback ok?**

**Is it boring you, making you sleepy, squeal or what?**

**TELL ME, I'm practicing my English here… q_q**


	3. To Hide 3

**I know where this story is going now. So I'm changing the summary.**

**Summary:**

AU. They said he was cursed. Everyone avoided him. Cause he was abnormal. He acted. Or did he. But they didn't know the real him. He didn't know himself . Then a boy known as Hibari Kyoya came. Standing right beside him. 1827 development, slight gore

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hidden Sky<strong>_

_**- To Hide Three -**_

* * *

><p>Confusion filled Tsuna's young mind as he repeatedly scanned over the same sentence again and again.<p>

Mafia? His dad is with the_ Mafia? _That stupid goofy two faced man who comes home once in a millennia to only get drunk and laze around their couch, the one who caused those tearful nights for his mother and left them for over a year is a freaking mafioso?

He felt his jaw opened ajar when he came across his profile picture of him looking serious wearing a smart black suit. In big black cursive letters besides the picture with the rest of his info was the name 'Sawada Iemitsu' demanding to be read.

What happened to that messy white singlet and bright orange pants and jacket he wore for mining? And that sharp rake he usually carries around over his shoulders and that yellow underground helmet he wears atop his head. Actually what has the world come to?

He was too tired for this. Tired of thinking. He clicked closed the document while saving a copy onto his personal USB. A yawn flew out of his mouth and his eyes shifted to the clock glowing in the dark.

Five minutes til midnight and the start of a brand new day. Definitely time for bed. He had a lot of time to investigate; he'll do this again another day in another time, so he closed the other opened files.

Tsuna hesitated. The mouse curser hovered on the close button of the last document, hovering but not clicking it.

That feeling came again. It was never wrong, always trustworthy. This time though, he had a bad feeling about it. His heart weighed a tonne as dread filled his senses. Hand shaky with heaviness, he moved the cursor away from the close button.

He scrolled down the page.

"What are you doing?" With a quick reflex, Tsuna immediately closed the file and shut the lid, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. He stiffened and had a look of a deer caught in headlights when he felt Hibari breathing down his neck. He gulped and managed to gasp out, "N-nothing…"

"I should bite you to death," as if on cue, Tsuna felt his palms becoming a bit moist, "but…I'll let you go. We should sleep." The last sentence sounded like a suggestion but to Tsuna's ears it translated to: Sleep _now_.

He was quick to comply as he pattered over to his closet to quickly place down the evidence of his offence. Turning around, he hurriedly climbed into bed where Hibari was waiting with the covers lifted. Once the back of his head hit the soft pillow, Hibari covered them both with the blanket and whispered into his ears, "Sleep."

Not needing to wait, the weariness of the day and the result of his young body staying awake for longer than it's supposed to, his eye fluttered closed wrapped with warmth from the blanket and the body beside him.

The next morning he expected to be bombarded with questions once he woke up. His eyes blinked sleepily as he adjusted his focus. No one was there. The spot beside him was empty and the only evidence that Hibari had slept there was the other half of the crumpled sheets.

Hibari had disappeared again. He was letting him keep his secret a bit longer.

He better be prepared when he actually asks him.

—

"The meeting is adjourned."

Clattering of paperwork were packed as a black mass of feet got up and shuffled angrily out of the room. The last person –ordered with a wave of the hand- closed the door with a loud click leaving one old man sitting at the very front desk.

A stressed sigh filled the room as rough hands moved to massage the temples of a wrinkled face. Another failure to compromise with the other leaders of the Famiglia has been added to his life as the Vongola Nono.

He was old already. His eyes twinkled with slight ironic amusement as he scanned the portraits of young and lively leaders all in black suits. Only his portrait was of an old man right besides many youthful faces. He has gotten too old, showing just how long he had been in this position. A bit too old to be the leader compared to the past generations.

Vongola needed a healthy leader, not one who could be on death's door at any moment. However he could still be stubborn and live for another ten years if he wished, but…

His eyes travelled back to his desk where there were photos of his sons all smartly dressed in black the far left of a photo, there stood a tall handsome young man with a sharp face shape. His eyes glinted with intelligence and a small upward curve of his mouth indicated his attention at the camera. Enrico his eldest son was to succeed him when he was eighteen.

_Died from a gunshot in the head._

The next boy was short, only reaching the shoulders of the first one. His face chubby and round from all the food he enjoyed to eat. However the look on his face smiling expressed his vast knowledge and experience. His middle son, Matsumo, the next in line.

_Drowned in the sea._

The last boy was slightly taller than Matsumo and the youngest looking out of them all. His hair was in disarray to give a look of a ruffian but his eyes shone with honest kindness. Federico, his youngest and favourite son.

_Found reduced to bones._

His nostalgic grin turned into a frown. All his selected candidates for becoming Vongola Decimo were gone.

The only other one was _him_. He looked at the single photograph separated from the rest. It showed a young man in his early teens frowning and eyebrows furrowed with rage.

Despite the coloured feather hair accessories tied to the end of his messy hair that gave him a tribal look, he was quite a good looking child if you looked closely. This was taken before he had received the current scars.

It was his adopted son, Xanxus. However, Xanxus is Xanxus. If he was given the boss seat, it'll be another generation of a corrupted Vongola.

He was the only candidate left to choose if he was to die early of old age, however because of the recent 'Cradle Affair' it would be unlikely for him to be chosen. The only other option would be…

The young Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun, also known as Iemitsu's five year old son, who he would rather not involve into the mafia world. He had met the sweet child once last summer when he decided to visit Iemitsu's family together with him.

It was lovely to meet the dear sweet Nana and their adorable son he had heard stories of. He had heard Tsunayoshi was a gentle and weak child but he was met with a great surprise he didn't expect.

Tsunayoshi had great potential, having to light up a sky flame at that age by himself. Actually he _could_ become Vongola Decimo. He was kind, sweet and a bit timid but is someone who could become a great leader in the future if he was trained.

He felt a headache coming. Still…it's too early for him. He'll have to wait another ten years until Tsunayoshi has reached a mature-enough age to lead a mafia family. So he had to stay in power for _another_ ten years.

Another sigh came out of his mouth. _Can someone please relieve this poor old man from this position already?_

There was a knock on the door and he mumbled a sign for him to come in. He stiffened with worry as his normally stoic storm guardian came in with a frown without greeting him; it meant he was panicking, since he always shows respect to the boss. Not trying to raise any tension, he smiled warmly at his guardian.

"What's the matter Coyote?"

He watched as the old man –as old as him since they were the same age- in front of him hesitate to talk. Looking down guiltily and shameful.

"Timoteo...our database has been hacked a few minutes ago by an outsider."

—

Tsuna sneezed and the pencil in his hand jerked accordingly. Did he catch a cold from last night? Or was someone bad mouthing him behind his back again?

Rubbing his nose, he frowned at the firm line standing out in his book. And he didn't bring his rubber today. Maybe he was just unlucky in general. Not ignoring it, he drew another two lines beside it to form a triangle. They were learning shapes right now anyway.

Talking about triangles…last night the file he had a brief glance at had the family tree of Vongola bosses…his name was there. At the very bottom.

'_Candidates for the Vongola 10__th__ position: Enrico, Matsumo, Federico, Xanxus, _Sawada Tsunayoshi._'_

So…Vongola _is_ the mafia and _he_ is a candidate for the position of the next boss. Interesting, but no. He would like to have his normal life –which isn't that normal anyway. Since there are so many other, better, more experienced, _older_ candidates, he should be safe away from this mafia business…hopefully.

He looked over to the tables further away from him and slightly grinned seeing bruised faces of his bullies. When he caught their eyes, some of them looked away, afraid while some glared at him and _he_ looked away instead. They may be injured but the result of being bullied had included a habit to his automatic natural response: to flee.

The bell rang to Tsuna's delight and he practically ran out –shoving some people accidentally on the way and hearing one yell "Hey, I was supposed to leave first!"- towards the forest to meet his only friend.

Reaching their meeting spot, Tsuna giggled softly into his hands at the scene laid out before him. A vast crowd of tiny cute animals surrounded the stoic boy sitting down who made no move to shoo them away. Instead he was welcoming the attention, gently petting the head of a squirrel in front of him. The amusing thing was each creature were offering treats like berries and nuts which were gratefully accepted into his hands with a nod.

"How long are you going to stand there?" Tsuna carefully made his way towards Hibari, sidestepping the tiny animals and sat down on the empty spot besides Hibari that they made for not to disrupt the calm atmosphere, he spoke softly in awe, "Hibari-san is amazing. How did you get them to like you?"

"…nothing…" With a wave the animals scurried off back to their homes and work. Tsuna just stared on in amazement. Hibari was just that amazing.

Suddenly, Tsuna stood up abruptly, "I hear something…" He watched as Tsuna looked at the branches above them. Walking to another spot, he started climbing up the tree and Hibari stood up as well alert with concern.

Slowly he lifted himself higher up off the ground. His arms were weak and were strained from the effort but he continued to heave himself up hearing the pained sound calling out to him. Up and up he went and with one last tiring pull, he reached the highest branches of the tree.

His chest heaved as he breathed heavily and looked around for the source of the noise he heard. There on the middle of the branch was a small yellow bird. It chirped tearfully as its wings flapped weakly on the branch, wanting to fly. Immediately, Tsuna noticed one of its wings hardly lifted up and quickly fell right back down. A broken wing perhaps?

Throwing one leg over the branch he steadied himself. He nervously looked down at the distance he was above the ground. It was fairly high up and it just didn't seem right to stop his sudden courageous act.

Shaking his head he looked forward and slowly shifted towards the tiny bird. Gently he scooped up the injured creature into his hands and whispered softly to it. "Don't worry. I've got you."

Oh the irony of this situation he was in. Sure he climbed up the tree to save the bird on impulse, but how was he going to get down? It took all his strength to climb up, climbing down would be even more problematic, especially if he doesn't want to further injure the poor thing in his hands.

He got up trying to think of a solution on how to get down and the worst scenario happened. He slipped. All because of his dame-ness.

His scream was lost in the wind as it rushed past his face, feeling himself plummeting down due to the rule of gravity. He was falling rapidly, to his death? The scared chirp reminded him of the tiny life that he was also bringing to death with him. He hugged the bird safely into his chest. At least it'll stay alive if he landed on his back.

"TSUNA!" Was that Hibari yelling? He couldn't hear it clearly.

Throat was hoarse from his silent scream. He never had the lungs to scream so loudly anyway. As the ground got closer, he closed his eyes out of fear and crashed. However when he landed, two steady arms belonging to Hibari supported his back and legs, preventing him from completely crashing right into the ground. Both of them fell with an 'oomph' anyway.

"What did you think you were doing you stupid herbivore?" disorientated Tsuna blinked slowly, still shocked from the event that just happened.

"I-I'm sorry Hibari-san…" he looked down guiltily as the other boy hugged him, "Just don't do that again." This whole thing somehow reminded him of that dream he had the night before he met Hibari.

Gasping slightly he quickly lifted the tiny bird in his hands to his face and checked. The yellow fluff ball tweeted in concern and he gave a relieved sigh. It was safe. "What are you going to do with him?" He looked up sheepishly which answered Hibari's question. "I guess I'll take care of it until it gets better?"

He nuzzled his nose playfully on the birds head and the yellow fluff ball tweeted to him cheerfully. "What shall I call you? How about Hibird?"

"Hibird?" Hibari arched a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Since Hibari saved us and Hibird likes it," to confirm this, the bird now called Hibird tweeted to their surprise, "Hibird like, Hibird like."

"Ooh Hibird is a smart bird! Call me Tsuna!"

"Tsuna. Herbivore. Herbivore."

Hibari smirked at this. The bird was indeed smart. He liked it already, he won't mind having it named after him. Gently he took the small thing from Tsuna's hand and held it up to his eye level, looking straight into its black beady eyes.

"Hibari Hibari." Tsuna smiled, he loved peaceful moments like these.

—

"Sir, we have located the hacker who stole the top secret information on the Vongola."

"Oh?" a dark man looked up from his desk with a fake playful surprised look. He lazily leaned forward as if anticipating something he didn't know.

"Really?" he grinned, obviously very pleased with the news from his subordinate. He leaned back on his chair and waved his hand for the other figure in the room to continue.

"Yes, we have traced the trail left behind by the careless hacker back to Japan."

"Interesting. I have heard Japan's technology was high-classed. Maybe we could convince him to work for us." A plot converged in his head as his eyes gleamed with glee.

"First we must retrieve those files for our own benefits. Where shall I be sending our men exactly soon?"

Their chance has arrived. They were going to get their revenge.

"An area called Namimori."

"Excellent...send the ones situated in Japan after him. Also send _him_ to do the deed."

The Todd Famiglia is going to have their sweet, sweet revenge.

Vongola is going down.

—

He was alone and looking down depressed as the other children paired off to complete certain fun activities together. He swears the teacher purposely hold group activities to try getting him to communicate with the other kids. That is not going to happen since he is dame-Tsuna.

Watching the other kids from afar in a corner made him feel lonely. As he saw a group of them invite another kid to play tips, tears threatened to fall from his eyes. It made his chest clench with envy. He didn't like the fact he was purposely secluded and ignored by everyone.

He had done nothing wrong. He sat quietly in his corner anyway.

"Young man, where did you come from and why are you here?"

Curious and bored, he looked towards the commotion he heard his teacher made. Obviously, she was in her lecture mood again with that tone being used on the boy mostly hidden from his view, only seeing the back of his teacher at the door with a small figure.

"There is no need to tell you herbivore."

Strange, that voice sounded familiar, but it could just be his wishful thinking.

"Why you insolent child!" he heard her screech and noted how the other boy wasn't very pleased with the sudden noise as his shoulders slightly twitched.

"Tell me your name now so I can ring up your parents!"

Unfortunately, he heard no more but muffled whispers as they both moved out and closed the door. There went his entertainment.

However not a minute later, the door opened to reveal Miss, her face was paled, drained of colour, causing his curiosity to light up again. What happened? He watched as she stiffly walked to the front of the classroom behind her desk and clapped three times loudly.

"Children may I have your eyes over here." She got what she wanted when heads turned to her direction.

"This is sudden, but we are having a new student. P-please come in." Wondering who it could be to cause her to stutter, the first person to come to his mind was the black haired boy, but waved it off. Hibari doesn't like crowding.

He watched as a figure walked into the room. His eyes widened in surprise realisation, as it was indeed Hibari who had came in. So he had guessed right. Tsuna made a note in his head to trust his hunches more often.

"Hibari-kun shall be joining us today. Please treat him well. Now everyone go back and play, I'll be right back," Tsuna watched in amusement as she scurried out the door, eager to get away from the devil's spawn who shall now be in her class.

His eyes flickered back to Hibari who was left alone and was currently surrounded by children wanting to know him more. However, they stopped flocking around him and rushed off when his glare focused on them.

Tsuna also noticed a certain group shivering with fear in recognition. Hibari had_ that _much of an impact on his classmates eh…

"Oi herbivore."

He jumped from his seat in surprise, noticing the face suddenly right in front of him. He zoned out again didn't he. Or Hibari was just too ninja for him, appearing all of a sudden like always.

"H-hibari-san! Why are you here? Not that I don't like it or anything…"

He didn't receive a reply as the taller boy just simply sat down beside him to the rest of the class's horror. There was _someone _who would want to even sit beside Tsuna.

Tsuna himself was nervously shifting in his seat. Sure he had talked with Hibari but that was when they were alone, where no one could judge them. Now they were in front of other people, he doubted if Hibari would try to act close to him.

A chessboard fell right in front of him and realised all the white chess pieces were already set up on his side. Hibari was sitting in across him this time with the corresponding black chess pieces in front of him. Tsuna looked him in the eye arching an eyebrow. The look in the other boy's eyes was a challenge.

Smiling, he made the first move.

Before he knew it, one week had passed with each day being the most enjoyable time of his life. The files about Vongola were long forgotten and the dangers it could bring.

—

Tsuna learnt many things about Hibari. Animals loved him and he showed a soft spot for them as seen with Hibird. He was strong and powerful, having his way no matter what, even with the adults. He may seem cold and aloof and _is_ cold and aloof, Tsuna was pleased that he was an exception.

Just as much he had learnt about the other boy, Hibari learnt subtle details about Tsuna as well. Details ranging from Tsuna's small habit of scratching his cheek with a finger when he gets nervous to the use of his secret laptop he keeps inside a hollow space in the closet.

Tsuna was a kind and gentle child, a heart full of gold –he had welcomed him with open arms when he was in trouble- so he didn't understand why the other children isolated him. He in genuine was the type no one could hate.

Hibari silently glanced over to his right where the said _male_ was humming happily as they walked out of class with their backpacks. Although his face glowed with air of childishness, his eyes on the other hand brimmed with too much intelligence and knowledge for a young boy like him.

It wasn't necessary a bad thing to have a vast knowledge, but Hibari felt that there was more to it than that.

A much deeper, darker secret.

_Like I do._

Maybe that was what made them get along together.

All of a sudden Tsuna stopped in his tracks and Hibari nearly walked right into him.

"Hibari-san, can we walk that way instead?" He sounded in a hurry to avoid something but it was too late.

"Hey isn't that Sawada-san's boy?"

A group of adult herbivores –who were waiting for their children to finish packing up- stood there speaking in hushed voices about Tsuna, who noticeably stiffened and huddled closer to Hibari's side, trying to hide away from view.

"Why yes it is. Look just how thin and weak he is! He doesn't even look like he had enough nutrients to grow properly. Isn't he just way too small for his age? Sawada-san is working her butt off just to support him. How pitiful."

"I heard he was born out of wedlock. The father had fled to another country and just left the mother and son behind."

A loud gasp could be heard, "An illegitimate child? She should be ashamed of herself. That poor child."

"Poor child? He's a wicked child. I've heard nasty rumours concerning that boy."

"Really? Do share."

"My child told me that Sawada boy loves to fight despite his small body. He sprouts new bruises each day."

"That's horrible! What has his mother been teaching him?"

They were wrong about Tsuna. He was too gentle to start a fight. He grabbed Tsuna's small hands and squeezed it reassuringly before slowly pulling him along past the _crowding_ herbivores pretending to ignore them, but he was listening attentively.

"That's not all. Apparently this one time he warned a teacher to not smoke at exactly 6pm or else something wrong will happen. Obviously no one would believe a child and the teacher smoked daily at that time, he ignored it."

"What happened next?"

"His whole house got caught on fire. The fire fighters couldn't get there in time and the whole house got burnt down."

"What happened to that teacher?"

"He died. He got trapped in the burning house and went down with it."

Loud gasps echoed in the hallway.

"That child is not normal."

"I told my child to stay away from him, in case he brings misfortune on us."

"I should do the same."

Agreements flew around and Hibari felt rage consume him.

"What a wretched child."

"How horrid and dreadful."

One more. One more and he'll lose it.

"Despicable."

_That does it._

In an array of blur, Hibari disappeared from Tsuna's side and rushed at the group of herbivores, his tonfas out and glinting dangerously. Tsuna blinked and when he opened his eyes, Hibari was back next to him quickly grabbing his hand again and led them towards the door.

"Let's go..." Tsuna happily complied. Multiple thumps hit the group, causing him to look back curiously at the mountain of corpses Hibari made. Turning back he smiled brightly at Hibari's direction.

"Thank you Hibari-san," Hibari gave a small smirk of his own when he heard the soft voice. He quickly led them outside, far away from his crime scene.

A few moments later, a couple of kids came out wondering why their parents were playing dead outside their classroom without them.

—

"How can this be? The systems shouldn't be so easily invaded!"

Coyote watched as his boss paced back and forth in the room to relieve the stress piling up on him.

"All our information is in those files, even our allied families! This could start a war within the mafia world!"

This was one of the moments the ninth stressed so much especially where it concerned the safety of other people. Whoever had stolen the information honestly didn't know how important those files were and how much danger it could put people in if it were to be used wrongly.

"Coyote."

"Yes?"

"Do you know where that hacker is?"

"Japan, Namimori." He easily remembered the details he got from his fellow workers.

A thoughtful look passed Nono's face, before he stopped his pacing and turned to look at his guardian. He emitted a serious aura and spoke gravely.

"Send the Varia there for negotiations as soon as they are available after their current mission. Tell them to secure the safety of the information."

This was going to be a test for Xanxus to redeem himself and gain back their trust, not that he'll know.

"If the other party does not agree, they would know what to do."

—

_The refreshing smell of grass filled his mind as he laid there on the ground. The grass beneath him tickled his bare skin on the legs and the back of the neck. The sun brought warmth as he laid there sweating underneath the cover of trees._

_A figure lay drained beside him, his chest moving up and down. Despite the damp black hair clinging to the pale face, Tsuna recognised him as Hibari. He felt comfortable just laying there resting his body in the company of his friend at the forest._

_The peace didn't last when a loud bang resounded nearby. Startled, animals could be heard shrieking in fear and panick. Looking up through the spaces between the tree canopies, they saw a flock of birds flew out of their nests and into the sky wildly. Another gunshot was heard and a bird was seen falling down._

_Hunting was _prohibited _in Namimori Forest. Whoever the hunter was, they didn't follow rules. Danger was right there close to them._

_Cautious they both got up, and ran away. They didn't need to communicate with each other to understand their exposure to the gunner. They had to find somewhere else safe to rest._

_Twigs and branches scratched his face as he ran, following Hibari as he was slower. He couldn't take big or quick steps like Hibari could. Missing a step, he tripped over a rock and fell scraping his chin painfully._

_Footsteps approached him quickly. Thinking it was Hibari coming back to help him, he looked up about to say he was alright and froze. A tall built man –absolutely wasn't Hibari- stood looming over him like a giant._

_Tsuna gasped in fear. It wasn't because of the shiny threatening gun being held that could kill him in one shot, but the fact he knew who this man was. His arm reached out, beckoning for him to come to him._

Tsuna blinked, staring at the blank white ceiling of his room. He just dreamt _those_ kinds of dreams again –his normal dreams weren't so descriptive so he could tell.

Usually he only had a dream about the future once every few months but lately they were coming to him a lot. He already had one just last week and he was having another dream. _What is happening to me?_

Sunlight peeked through the blinds into his room, signalling another morning. Tsuna was still under the covers, relishing the warmth inside while trying to remember the face of the man in his dream, vision, whatever it was called. His eyes flicked towards the calendar and reluctantly got up.

It was a Saturday today and he had promised Hibari to hang out together in the forest. Hibari said he'll _pretend_ to come over to play at 9am straight. Seeing his clock display 8:30am, he quickly got out of bed and headed for his closet.

He didn't want to anger the older boy by being late.

—

Nana was happy seeing Tsuna coming home smiling everyday lately. Apparently her baby boy finally made a friend to her joy and she thanked god for this. Sometimes she would find a cute yellow bird following him home. It was so adorable when it tweets their names. Apparently he had saved it when it injured its wings. Oh how fast her son was growing up already.

Her colleagues from work had told her that sometimes children would understand if an adult was in pain and would take it to heart. Thankfully Tsuna seemed to be unaffected. Nana promised herself she'll become stronger and lessen her heartache moments. She had a son to take care of.

So when one Saturday morning, a handsome black haired boy –a year or two older than Tsuna himself- came knocking at their door and Tsuna introduced him as his friend, she was completely overjoyed. The teachers had told her how Tsuna seemed to be having trouble making friends at school and it worried her. But here he was with his first friend.

"My name is Hibari Kyoya. Pleased to meet you, Sawada-san." Nana inwardly squealed hearing the collected cool voice, opposite of Tsuna's higher pitch and more feminine voice. She also heard from the teachers that this boy was trouble but he seemed to be such a polite young boy. It didn't matter since she trusts Tsuna's choices, and she'll support him, just like his father...

Quickly brushing the thought of her husband off her mind –the children are here- she cheerfully greeted her Tsu-kun's first friend, "Hello dear, you don't have to be so formal with me. Just Nana is fine! May I call you Kyo-kun?"

Tsuna smiled nervously when he saw Hibari twitch at the name, but made no comment that he was offended. Knowing him, Hibari would bite anyone to death if they got him irritated, he was concerned for his mother's safety. Tsuna didn't have to worry much since Hibari seemed to approve of his mother and replied. "Hai, Nana-san."

Remembering his main objective, he got his mother's attention. "Mama, can I go out to play with Hibari-san? Please?" stretching out the last word to express his want.

"Why of course you can Tsu-kun! Just come back before dinner ok?"

"Hai mama," Tsuna chimed like a good child before turning towards Hibari, "please wait here Hibari-san. I'll get something from my room first." Off he went up the stairs, leaving his friend and his mother standing at the doorway.

"Kyo-kun may I ask you for a favour?" Hibari remained silent which Nana interpreted as yes.

"Please...please take care of my Tsu-kun," her voice became softer and a sombre look filled her eyes. "He may not look like it...but he is actually a very sickly child ever since he was a baby. Can you promise me that, as his first friend, Kyo-kun?"

It was rare for Hibari to be shocked but he really didn't expected Tsuna to have bad health. He looked weak yes, but not that bad. There was actually no need for her to ask, he had already decided to protect him. Looking into Nana's eyes, he nodded determinedly and her face lit up.

"I'm sorry to put this burden on you Kyo-kun. You just seem strong and reliable. Thankyou." Hibari's face seemed apathetic when he nodded again, deep inside he was beaming with pride that someone had acknowledge his strength. "I will Nana-san."

"Also, you may want to know Tsu-kun is very clumsy, he always gets new bruises somehow once in a while," Nana cheerfully added. Hibari just looked at the woman disdainfully. He was very sure Tsuna got those bruises from those bullies he met a while ago. Certainly _not_ from falling down or crashing into anything.

A yelp could be heard, which was followed by loud crash came from upstairs.

"See what I mean," Nana helpfully commented, "Tsu-kun! Are you alright?" They heard a muffled voice in reply.

_Ok, maybe half his injuries were made by himself._ Hibari thought as he saw the new formed bruise on Tsuna's knee as he hopped down the stairs and scurried over towards them.

"Sorry for the wait, we'll be going now mama!" Excitedly, Tsuna grabbed Hibari's arm and ran out the door. The disgruntled boy allowed himself to be dragged along yet again.

"Have fun you two! Just remember to come home before dark to have dinner!" By the time she finished shouting, they had already disappeared from view with a yellow blur following close behind them.

—

Sweat dripped down Tsuna's face as he crouched behind a green bush, watching his target. As silent as a mouse, he crept further away to blend deeper into the trees, making sure his hair wasn't poking out and was still hidden from view.

This time he'll succeed in escaping. Definitely. He slowly took a step back. And another. Still watching the silhouette standing a few metres away from his position.

Seeing he was still unnoticed, he took another step back and a silent crack filled the silence. _Oops..._

Alerted, the figure swiftly rushed towards his direction, approaching rapidly. Tsuna quickly turned tail and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, with the figure chasing him right behind him.

His breath quickened and his heart pounded in his ears. He ran, dodging branches and bushes on his way and occasionally switched directions to throw off his pursuer. It didn't work, as he could hear the grass rustling behind him became closer.

With one last plan, Tsuna quickly turned and hid behind a tree. Holding his breath, he kept still as he listened to the fast footsteps run past and disappear into the distance. Once he couldn't hear it anymore, he let go of his breath and slumped down the tree exhausted. He did it.

Tsuna couldn't relish his victory for long when the same dark figure flew out from the nearby bush and pounced on him. Both of them rolled on the grass and stopped with him on his back, greedily breathing air in deeply and the attacker hovering above him was also taking in shallow breaths but not as much as he was.

"I win," with the short declaration, Hibari's form slumped down besides Tsuna's worn out body. Both of them were sweating bullets. The person himself laughed tiredly and then stuck his lower lip out in fake disappointment. He was so close too. He only had a minute left until he won.

At first they were playing normal tag but it got boring as they were lacking in number of people to play. So they had created a modified version of the game with special rules for only two players to make it more interesting.

One player must use any way to not be tagged by 'it' for a whole 10 minutes in order to win. However if the player is tagged by 'it', the roles are switched and it is the other person's turn to try and stay untagged for 10 minutes. The game either ends when the 'runner' wins by being untagged for 10 minutes or if both players had a certain number of turns at being it. Of course by default, 'it' will win.

Of course, they picked a random number by asking Hibird who chirped the number 15. And that was how they spent the last two hours playing tag in Namimori Forest and no, it didn't get boring for some reason.

Tsuna had thought it was quite a fun and stimulating game. It tested your stealth as the 'runner' to hide, and your alertness as 'it' to detect the other player quickly in a time limit in a large area. Both had to face endurance to see who would prevail in the game and really, it helped Tsuna's body become healthier with all that running. Not only that, he swore his dodging skills was improving from all that fast running past trees and bushes to avoid being caught.

The sun seemed to be blazing hot above them but it was just their pumped up bodies from moving around too much. Tsuna now wished he had brought bottles of water with them. They could really use them right now.

Warning bells chimed loudly in his mind, Tsuna shot straight up on guard. It was here again, the feeling he got during last night's dream. Trying to decipher what was going to happen next, he cracked his brain for the dream and started to replay it again in his mind. Hibari also got up, watching curiously as the other boy's eyes widened in realisation.

"Hibari-san, we have to run!" Panicking, Tsuna hastily got up onto his feet, trying his best to heave the other boy up. "What's wrong herbivore?" Before Tsuna could explain, their heads snapped towards the side where a loud gunshot exploded, followed by the screeching of frightened birds.

"Danger! Danger!" Even Hibird came flying back to them landing on the tip of Hibari's finger, "Herbivore! Gun!" Hibari frowned quite unamused at the report coming from the little bird, if the narrowing of his eyes didn't say anything. "See? Let's go Hibari-san."

What confused Tsuna more was that instead of them running away from the source of the noise, Hibari was leading them towards it! "Hibari-san! We shouldn't go near there," Tsuna quietly whispered. Hibari just shushed him with a finger on his lips and gave him a reassuring look while still tugging him towards the danger zone.

Quietly they crept behind bushes and peeked through the leaves, what they saw sent a jolt of shock through their bodies. The face of a middle aged man laid a metre right in front of them with his eyes closed, as if he was just asleep. He wore a white dress shirt and a black waistcoat from where they could see.

But that was not all. A nice round hole was left embedded in his chest to be surveyed where a bullet had impaled his heart mercilessly. Fresh bright red blood seeped through the shirt in contrast to the pure white colour. The fact his body was still as a statue concluded he died just then.

A few feet away from the body stood a tall built man –also wearing the same dress code- still pointing a shiny silver gun outstretched at the dead man. Tsuna's eyes travelled up to the man's face and saw that a smirk was painted on his face pleased with his recent kill. Dark green hair spiked up to reveal a scar on his forehead. His mind quickly identified the man. A tiny gasp escaped his mouth, which was quickly stiffened by Hibari's hand.

"Who's there?" Too bad for them, the man heard them and took quick strides towards them. Both of them quickly flattened their stomachs onto the ground and held their breaths, hoping not to be found. There was a gun included!

Tsuna's heart thumped with the beat of the steps coming their way. The first thing Tsuna saw was the shiny blackness of an expensive shoe brand then a whirl of leaves when a strong hand dug into the bush and picked him up by the back of his collar, slightly choking him. He came face to face with the owner of that arm.

A pair of eyes filled with blood lust observed him up close. Tsuna struggled but when the hold on him tightened, he looked down, afraid of the gun that was now strapped to the man's hip. He flinched when the other hand roughly grabbed his chin to lock their eyes together.

"Oh what do we have here? A child? And here I was thinking that I'll have another kill." A gruff voice spoke in a heavy accent spoke confirming Tsuna's suspicions. Robotically he rehearsed the profile imprinted in his mind.

_Robert Tiratore. 36 years old. Current occupation is a well-known freelance assassin hireable by anyone, as long as they paid him a good sum of money. He is recognisable with the scar on the left side of his forehead he received from a conflict between two mafia families. Family members are unknown but it is suspected that his wife hand eloped with another man and he himself had thrown his child onto the streets. Information on his abilities is withheld even for his clients._

"So we have a mafia kid here eh." Wait, did he just say all that out loud? "A normal civilian kid shouldn't have access to that kind of information," ok so he did, "my job has just gotten easier ya know." Tsuna shivered slightly at the light sneer in the voice directed at him. So this was what it was like to be held hostage for information. The movies made it seem nicer though.

"Tell me. Do you know of a hacker who calls himself 27 living in this town?" His shoulders stiffened at the name. That was _his_ online alias. No one was supposed to know he was even in Japan! Trying to keep calm, he spoke in a steady voice, "why do you need to find him for?"

"I need to collect certain information he recently acquired on the Vongola." Crap, he was being targeted for _that_. He was only looking through it for his own curiosity, not for some insane assassin to be sent after him! Keeping his thought to himself, he just pursed his lips and shook his head side to side.

Tsuna briefly felt freedom when the hand released him, but was then replaced with the much colder touch of hard metal belonging to Robert's gun. With the sound of a click, he knew the gun was reloaded, ready to shoot a hole through his frail neck.

"Let me get this straight kid. I'm not asking you. I'm _demanding_ you to answer," pressure was applied more into his neck, "moving your head isn't an answer and I know you are lying." Oh really, was there a mind reader in this world now.

His thought was cut short when the feel of cold metal dug deeper into his neck. "Speak child. Or I'm afraid my hand will accidentally slip."

Tsuna gulped nervously. One wrong move and he could be dead. Now to speak or not to speak, cause frankly he didn't have to reveal himself since Robert didn't even know 27 was him. Other people probably thought 27 was a middle aged man who huddles himself in the dark in front of the computer. Well that was the many assumptions he heard people talk about him.

Now what did the characters on that TV show do to get out of this situation. A strong kick at the legs to throw the attacker off balance. Then a punch in the face or stomach for good measure.

Unfortunately, Tsuna had neither the muscles nor the height to execute the moves mentioned. He had another idea though.

In the sweetest voice he could muster, he looked confidently into Robert's eyes. "I'm sorry Robert-san, but I _truly_ don't know who this 27 is. I didn't even _know _he lives in this town." His smile glowed with absolute innocence and truth in Robert's calculating eyes, "Would you be so kind to unhand me please?"

After another minute of speculation, Robert grunted with approval and dropped the kid in his hands onto the ground. Tsuna yelped as he landed unceremoniously on his butt. Thinking the danger was over, he gasped in surprise as he got caught off guard when the gun glinted in the sun a few millimetres away from his nose.

"Don't blame me kid, but I have to kill you now since I gave away too many details on my mission," the look in Robert's eyes were nothing like the regretful tone in his voice.

"This is the life of the mafia world. Just be thankful you won't have to suffer events worse than this when you're older." Tsuna would've thought he was being sincere if it weren't for the sudden maniac smile widening on his face.

"Farewell kid. I hope you reach hell!"

"HIEEE!" A piercing shriek came out of Tsuna's mouth automatically. Simultaneously the bushes rustled as the long forgotten Hibari lunged and swiped at the gun with his tonfa with a loud crack. Robert hissed as his wrist was forcefully bent backwards painfully causing the gun to fly out of his grip.

"Fucking brat! You had a friend!" Tsuna threw his arms over his head and shrieked again in fear as a pair of large hands lunged for him in rage. They were quickly swatted away by steel tonfas angrily. With a loud smash, Robert was sent sprawling backwards clutching his bleeding nose. His eyes scrunched up and growled in pain.

"You," Robert's eyes flickered up to see Hibari standing protectively in front of Tsuna's huddled form, glaring at him murderously. "First of all, murder is _forbidden_ within Namimori premises," the boy growled menacingly at him. "Secondly, you have threatened a Namimori resident who is just a _child_."

The glare suddenly intensified and the air temperature dropped drastically causing Robert to shiver slightly. God, it was a _child_ who was making him feel like this. He swallowed a bit fearfully when the boy stepped closer towards him. The aura was heavy and demonic.

"Lastly, you have threatened _my_ herbivore," snarling, Hibari raised his tonfas, "Prepare to be bitten to death." There was no time given for him to prepare as a furious rain of attacks came hurling down on Robert. Raising his arms to defend himself was useless as each hit became more painful than the previous.

Growling furiously, he swiped at the boy, trying to stop his movements. That short moment of him lowering his defence was all it took for Hibari to whack him twice hard over his vulnerable head.

Hibari watched coldly as the body slumped onto the floor like a puppet losing its strings. He gave him an extra whack out of irritation. _Damn herbivore..._

He felt himself staggered forward when a smaller body slammed into his side, two arms wrapped around his torso suffocatingly. He looked down at the messy brown nest buried into his chest and was about to snap at the boy to let him go, but zipped when a shaky meek voice tumbled out of the clinging child.

"I-I'm sorry Hibari-san. I'm sorry I got you involved," Tsuna's form started shaking slightly and his grip on Hibari's shirt got tighter. "Ple-Please don't leave." The sentence died off at the end and if it weren't for the fact Tsuna was right in front of him, he wouldn't have heard it.

Tsuna stopped shaking when he felt a hand on his head and then a soothing caress as the hand stroked his head gently. "...why would I do that...herbivore...?" Timidly he looked up and met Hibari's reassuring eyes, waiting for him to say something.

"Because..." he began, "People don't like the different and strange. They fear it and isolate people like that from society."

Hibari knew at once that he was referring to that..._incident_ with the adult herbivores a week ago. He didn't want Tsuna to get the wrong idea so he promised in a quiet yet steady voice.

"I'm not going anywhere Tsuna."

—

"Boss, Robert Tiratore has failed to capture our target 27."

"Oh where is he now? Call him here so I can deliver his punishment."

"That is currently impossible sir."

"Why is that?"

"He is currently residing within the bars of Japan's National Jail. He has been charged with murder and child abuse and sentenced for a total of fifteen years."

A shock of disbelief etched itself onto the so called boss of the Todd family. It was quickly shaken away and replaced by a more professional look.

"It does not matter. He was just a weakling after all. 27 is a very _clever_ man to stop him." A chuckle echoed eerily throughout the room.

"This won't hinder our plans unfortunately for him. We still have _him._"

—

Tsuna happily popped another octopus-shaped sausage into his hungry mouth. Eating with Hibari was always enjoyable for him. Call him selfish, but he wanted Hibari to stay next to him always.

"Ne…Hibari-san…shouldn't you just live with us now?"

Tsuna watched as the black haired boy ponder in his thoughts then shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Not the right time yet."

Tsuna childishly pouted. Hibari practically comes every night to sleep in his room so there is no need for him to always disappear off somewhere else. If he lived with them, they could spend more time together as well.

He took a glance at empty spot where Hibari was supposed to be eating lunch beside him. Really, sometimes Hibari reminded him of a ninja. He always disappears and reappears the next moment.

It made him sometimes wonder if Hibari was just an imaginary friend his mind conjured up for his loneliness. Maybe he had dreamt Hibari promising that he'll not leave him because he was different.

A sudden playful thought that he might be becoming crazy crossed his mind –like what he was well known to be.

A scream nearby told him he wasn't.

He hummed in amusement as Hibari took control over their small area which has access to the forest. No one was allowed to crowd in front of him, especially in their area.

Tsuna noted how he had become more protective after that confrontation with that man. Still, Hibari had yet to question him despite all the gossiping he has heard.

"Nami ga ii!" Looking up, Hibird came flying and perched on his shoulder and nuzzled its head on Tsuna's cheek. It was good that Hibari taught Hibird how to sing the anthem for Namichuu, he always liked it.

Giggling cheerfully at the ticklish feeling from the bird's feathers, he laughed merrily before stopping all together as his heart filled with dread.

"Tsuna, hurt!" It must have shown on his face since Hibari had come back alarmed from Hibird's sudden call and was looking concerned at him. He didn't know what to say but explained it as best as he could anyway.

Something or _someone_ was coming. And he wasn't going to like it. That was what the feeling in his heart told him.

Hibari considered the information he got carefully before looking back at Tsuna.

"Ignore it. We'll be fine."

That was what Tsuna thought as well.

_-End-_

* * *

><p><strong>OMG I'm finally done... OTL<strong>

**This chapter gave me a lot of trouble because I kept changing it, since it's the start of where the story actually has a goal and a point to it. When I typed it up, it seemed like it was going too fast, so 2000 words worth of it was pushed onto the next chapter o.o**

**Yes I **_**finally**_** have a grasp on what this is going to turn out like, hooray! :D**

**Also saying...I hope it made sense cause I don't have a beta reader (**I don't plan on having one**) and tell me if there are mistakes here somewhere... **

**Concerning when they'll reach the age they are right now in canon...it shall take a while...**

**—**

_**CONCERNING POLL**_

As I can see with both reviews added and the votes:

**1. Your Best Nightmare**

**2. The Royal Pair**

**3. Missions from Hell**

**4. Step By Step**

Don't worry if you haven't voted! Cause the time limit is until the **end of this month**!

Since I have updated early **(I promised someone to upload twice this month erm...)** it has not ended so you may still continue to vote.

However I think Your Best Nightmare is certain in first place, followed by The Royal Pair.

**Just saying, Your Best Nightmare, is the one that I ABSOLUTELY had no clue on what to write about, I had an idea sure, but the story plot. Zero. Blank.**

I think I shall use the idea for **Step By Step** HERE in this story instead so I might change it to... **young Hibari paired with an older Tsuna plot **cause a friend said she wanted to read one and I got an idea for it. =="""

—

**NEW QUESTION: **I know I don't like long paragraphs. Are my paragraphs alright?

**Thanks for reading and telling me your opinions!**


	4. To Hide 4

_**Hidden Sky**_

_**- To Hide Four –**_

* * *

><p>Sky.<p>

_That was the first thing Tsuna saw when he took a peek from beneath his eyelids. Looking around carefully, he noticed he was standing on a clear plane reflected by the clear blue sky above. Or was he standing on the sky and the mirror was above? Why he was here he did not know, but he concluded it was another of his weird dreams. Figuring the dream was peaceful and he that might as well enjoy it, he tilted his head backwards._

_Staring at the sky, stretching its beautiful blue far out for the world to see calmed him. Watching the sky had always been his favourite pastime when he got excluded from games. But …he couldn't help but feel loneliness creep into his heart just fromlooking at it._

_It was a blank canvas. Boring with nothing else painted on it._

_Sighing depressingly, he noted how the sky was alone like him at the moment. That was until wisps of fluffy white appeared in the corners of his eyes and he maneuvered his head towards the side._

Clouds.

_Smiling a bit, he watched as the clouds drifted and gathered across the sky, filling the parts of the empty space._

_As if hiding it for protection._

_The sky looked a tad bit livelier, filling his heart with a burst of warmth and peace._

_He couldn't help but relate the clouds with Hibari, seeing the clouds move however they wanted. _Yes, aloof just like Hibari-san._ He stifled a chuckle that was about to escape. Surely Hibari would bite him to death if he had heard him- just he wasn't even here right now. Why did he bother._

_Then something cold and wet slid down his face. Down his cheek, to his neck and onto his collarbone, causing him to shiver. He looked up at what the now massive grey clouds brought to the sky._

Rain.

_Oh, the beautiful feeling and peace he felt from just standing there underneath the rain shower. He felt cleaner as dirt was washed off. He enjoyed it immensely, a tranquility that he hadn't felt for such a long time._

_All of a sudden, the wind picked up. It felt harsh with the rain mixed in, striking his face. Knowing what it was, he wasn't surprised when he looked up to see something akin to a hurricane._

Storm.

_Thankfully, his hair was short. However, it didn't stop his front fringe from whipping into his eyes. Casually, he flicked it back and enjoyed the sudden wildness. When the wind was caressing him gently yet howling with a temper, it hit him._

_This place was weird. He felt free and safe even though he was in the middle of a howling having many friends must had its perks._

_A strong urge pulled at him. He didn't know why but he allowed himself to move to that will. Following his instincts, he raised his arms and screamed happily, reaching out for something._

_For a moment, he swore a mirror appeared before him and a pair of bright, warm, orange eyes stared back at him coolly._

—

Rays of light peeked over the horizon as a single plane landed with precise grace and connected to a tube-like corridor. The hatch hissed as it opened and passengers filed out, down the corridor, turning left and right like a snake they went.

They finally reached the end and scattered to go through barriers. Luggage was collected and people left the airport for home, work, and any location they needed to go. Only one figure was left waiting for his luggage to show up. He adjusted his hat and smoothed out his smart, matching black suit to remove creases.

He then calmly picked up the one suitcase on the moving beltbefore walking away. Hearing his ringtone, he flipped open his mobile and held it to his ear.

"Hello." A strong rough voice vibrated from his throat as he greeted.

_["Are you there yet?"]_

"Yes, I have just arrived in Japan." He waited for a few seconds as the other line buzzed and crackled before the caller spoke again.

_["We have found another clue to our target. He refers himself as 27. Go find him quickly."]_

"Don't worry…I'll find the one dubbed 27."

Flipping his phone closed, he proceeded to walk out and blend in with other people who were hailing taxis.

He seemed normal. A usual businessman going overseas for work.

Except he had a gun in his pockets and a dark smirk people looked past.

At the same time the mysterious man left, a private jet landed. Unlike the previous plane, this one had a stairway connected to the entrance instead. The door opened and out jumped a man with a green and orange mohawk wearing a feathery jacket and sunglasses.

"Oh! I am so excited! This is my first time in Japan!" The man exclaimed in quite a high, shrilly voice and practically flew down the stairs.

Following behind him was a small child only reaching the previous man's waist with blond hair covering his eyes. The most noticeable feature about him was the shiny silver crown on top of his head and perched upon his shoulders was a baby with purple triangle markings on its face.

"Ushishishi, the prince is having his vacation, right Mammon?" The blond turned his head slightly signalling that he was glancing at his companion riding on his shoulders despite his covered eyes.

Giving a tired sigh, Mammon replied with words seemingly wiser than his age "Hmph, as long as we don't use much money, it'll be nice."

It was unusual for a baby to reply, no less using such an intelligent sentence. However, bystanders could perceive this as a game; the young boy was merely playing pretend with the baby- which was not the case.

"VOOIIIII!" Everyone in the nearby premises jumped from the sheer loudness of the voice. It was of course coming from the scowling white haired teen coming out next.

"What are you idiots thinking? We're here on a mission, not on holiday!" To make his point, he waved the sword attached to his fake left hand wildly at his teammates.

"Ushishi of course we know that, captain."

"That's right Squal-chan! We have been working hard so we should take a break here after we finish our mission~ It has been a while since we have done a mission all together as well~"

"VOOIIII! How many times have I told you not to call me that Lussuria!"

"Shut up you trash."

Everyone looked up to see a foot connecting to Squalo's back and a mass of white and black as he came crashing down. He got up quickly, causing his short white hair to whip his face as he turned and pointed his sword at the black haired teen that had kicked him.

"VOOOIIIII! Xanxus you lazy bastard! You kicked me on purpose didn't you!"

"Che, scum." Everyone's ears were covered as the white haired teen yelled loudly in complete anger, his voice echoed for a while in the distance. Looking around, Bel realised something.

"Hey where's that idiot Levi?"

"He's probably inside his room still sick from the food boss made him test out during the ride. By the way, I'm charging you money for that question."

"Damn…"

"Oi you trash!"

Everyone's attention focused on the black haired teen again. He looked serious and emitted a powerful and commanding aura they all respected. They quietened down as their faces were replaced with similar professional ones. Not only that, it was noted that all their uniforms were similar.

"We're heading to Namimori."

The Varia had arrived.

—

Days passed and nothing had happened. He passed the feeling he got before as a stomach-ache instead, but tonight was different. He had woken up crying and sweaty.

_At first, it was nothing but flashes._

_Of fights, different coloured flames, a mansion burning._

_And then, he was running._

_Away from something and various loud shots of guns filled the night air._

_He was tired and wounded. His arm was bleeding badly, causing his mind to waver and eyes to blur. Staggering he fell but two pairs of arms steadied him back up and their distant and muffled voices urged him to get up. The next thing he knew, he was running with two people beside him._

_One wore that of an older day Japanese man. His eyes narrowed in concentration whilst wielding a sword in precaution, and didn't seem to be running with any difficulty despite the layers of clothing. Upon his head was a long black hat that seemed to make him look smarter and noble-like._

_The red head man on his right had an intriguing tattoo decorating the right side of his scowling face. Unlike the first man, this one wore clothes that were similar to the formal clothing of his time with the collared shirt, red tie and pants. He seemed to be more jumpy, raising his gun from his hands at every little rustling he heard not made by them three._

_Spouts of curses erupted as something exploded in front of them. His eyes were blinded and he lost sight of everything as the image faded. Opening his eyes warily, he was kneeling down with a sense of…despair?_

_The room was dark, but not dark enough for everything to be hidden in the shadows. Outside, the pitter patter of raindrops could be heard hitting the roof. The moonlight lit the features of a tall, dark man standing in front of him. His once smart black suit was torn in areas and dripped with a red substance- blood. He held a gun in his right hand that glinted in the light._

_It was pointed straight at him._

_The lower part of his face curled in a sadistic smirk but the upper part was hidden from view, not revealing who it was about to commit the act. What concerned him the most was the blood on _his _shaking hands, coming from a body in front of _him_?_

Hibari's_ unmoving, cold body or rather, someone who looked like Hibari more like. His eyes were closed as if he was just taking a nap like always but a drop of blood sliding down his face and red surrounding the body told him otherwise. _

No.

No.

Nonononononononononono-

Just NO. He couldn't be dead.

_His head shook in disbelief as he tried to shake – at least who he thought it was - Hibari's body awake. It only slumped down in defeat and to his horror, more red oozed out of the body. He felt himself let out an anguish scream into the night._

_Then the scene changed._

_This time, he was inside a large demeaning cage. He wanted _out_. He reached for outside the bars and shrieked as a shock was sent electrifying from his fingertips throughout his body. Laughter echoed throughout the room, mocking his position._

_A whip cackled against the cage dangerously as voices demanded angrily for something. _Something from him._ He didn't know what they wanted. He just wanted to go home. Leave this awful place. But they didn't want him to._

_A small hope lit in him when the cage opened was quickly crushed into tiny pieces when they began to beat him. Punches were thrown and kicks numbed his body and he had refused to open his mouth. Then they began to use the whip._

_It was horrible. With each slash, he cried with pain. He couldn't hold it back. It just _hurts_ too much. After each hit, he got used to the pain and allowed him to only feel a slight sting from the result. However, new wounds replaced and further deepened his previous wounds, hurting him even more._

_He didn't know how long this went on. There was no time, no calendar, only the lost counts of the number of times he was hit._

_Then he fainted._

_He was somewhere else again. Now he was chained onto a large table. Beside him was a container full of many different sharp equipment. A silhouette of another person being chained up seemed to be nearby and he was about to call out to him._

_To his horror after looking more carefully, the... _person _was merely skin and bones. _Dead. _Skin clung tightly until the bones could be easily seen and parts of it had scars and stitches. A straight line was cut down through the middle of the chest where the insides peeked out to his disgust. His or her pupils rolled back into the head until there were only the whites of the eyes to be seen._

_His heart clenched with a new found fear and he thrashed with futile efforts to get away. The metal bars dug painfully into his skin, causing blood to drip down from his wrists and ankles. He was stuck._

_The door opened and his heart nearly stopped. A man dressed completely in white surgeon clothing with the hat and mask included. He shivered in fear and from the cold, realising he was pretty much naked apart from his boxers. Footsteps made their way towards him and the man picked up a knife, looking over at him menacingly._

_He was scared. Frightened. What was he going to do to him? _Like what was done to the other child? _He didn't want it. He wanted to be away from that sharp thing as far as possible. He wanted to get away._

Now.

_The man must have noticed his fear- it was very obvious as his teeth chattering as well- he gave a crooked smile._

"_Be a good boy and don't move."_

_He had never screamed so much in his whole life. A needle was plunged into his side without warning and felt the liquid being injected into his system paralysing his whole body, numbing his legs and arms as it spread. It halted the sound from his throat._

_Unable to move and scream, he watched in fear._

Help.

_The knife approached him slowly. Teasing the captive._

Help! Anyone!

_He felt the cold tip touch his forehead and sobbed pitifully._

"HELP ME!"

Tsuna shot up with a loud gasp, sucking in quick short, breaths greedily. Taking in his surroundings, he realised he was in his room –_not there_- where no one was going to reach for him– so _so _much safer. A small whimper escaped him and he sobbed as he remembered the horrid dream –no, _nightmare_ he just had.

Hibari had woken up at the same time he heard the soft scream coming from the small body next to him. Alarmed, he held up his tonfas ready to attack, but there in front of him was only Tsuna in a sobbing mess.

Taking in the fact there were tears on Tsuna's face, he lowered his weapon. It seemed that Tsuna just had a nightmare. Carefully, Hibari approached the herbivore and gently placed a hand onto his shaking shoulders.

"…Tsunayoshi..."

Instantly, Tsuna flinched away from the touch and looked up, his teary orbs full of fear. However, in front of him, Hibari was alive, _breathing, _not dead and down. He quickly pounced onto the other boy, clinging for dear life and buried his face into Hibari's chest, whimpering.

Tsuna could hear Hibari's heart beating. _He was alive._

Hesitantly, Hibari encircled his arms around the crying boy into a warm hug. Tears soaked the front of his shirt but he didn't care. The owner of those tears was more important. He gently patted and rubbed Tsuna's back in small, circular motions for comfort, soothing the boy.

They hadn't known each other for that long. It had only been what? Just over a month? They were so attached already, but Hibari didn't dislike it. He was rather fond of Tsuna, a connection he couldn't put his finger upon.

_-my bond with you isn't like the ones with the others. Only towards you I-_

Hibari blinked as that sentence brought a sense of nostalgia over him. The words rolled out naturally in his mind as if it had been repeated again and again directed at him...as if it was a promise made to him... He shrugged it off and instead, focused on the broken child in front of him. A silly voice in the back of his mind wasn't important right now.

The tears continuously fell from Tsuna's eyes, causing Hibari's heart to clench with want to bite someone to death. Sadly, a nightmare cannot be bitten physically, so his only option was to provide as much comfort as he could.

Another sob wrecked through Tsuna's body, this time more stable and calmer, but still sorrowful. Hibari held him tighter in response. They spent the whole night in each other's arms, one providing the warmth whilst the other searched.

It was bitter for Hibari but it was all he could do and he was glad his efforts were being accepted.

—

Morning came and Hibari blinked sleepily, eyes bleary with the sunlight in his eyes. He slept very well last night. Yawning, he realised the _missing_ figure who was supposed to be his arms. Turning over, he was met with a pair of honey brown eyes full of mirth.

"Why good_ morning _Hibari-san."

He promptly ignored the smart-ass tone in the herbivore's voice and the slight smirk. Since when did the herbivore learn how to smirk. Just because he was caught this one time asleep instead of waking up first like usual? Nothing special.

Only a small prickle on his pride.

Nothing _much_.

"Morning Herbivore."

A sense of relief washed over him when the brown haired boy got up as usual –a tad bit _too_ happy for his liking- nevertheless, not too affected by that nightmare he had last night. He reminded himself to not question the still vulnerable boy about last night. He had to be patient and wait for Tsuna to tell him when he was ready.

Together, they went downstairs –with Hibari quickly catching Tsuna who slipped on the very first step- to eat breakfast that was already laid out for them. Nana had an early shift this morning and as Hibari slept over, she left the house, feeling more than assured that her Tsu-kun was in good hands.

Tsuna trailed his eyes over the table, seeing what his mama made for them. He spotted a certain plate and his eyes gleamed with an excited glee. A sudden squeal jolted Hibari from his spot and a blur rushed past, to his surprise.

Calmly coming out from his sudden shock, he spotted it was only Tsuna, who currently stared at something happily. Walking closer, he saw that it was a plate with a hefty amount of pancakes covered with a good, large amount of sweet –super sweet looking- honey and freshly cut strawberries decorating the top.

Looking closely, he swore the area around the herbivore was...sparkling. Quite brightly if he must say. Did the herbivore love sweet food that much?

Hibari remembered all the sweet delicacies that were given to him by the boy. Did he mention the burnt cake the herbivore tried to make him once? Ah, how flustered the brunet was when he was caught trying to hide the crispy black edges by covering the whole thing with icing.

Taking his seat next to Tsuna, they both clapped their hands together for etiquette like good boys they were.

"Itadakimasu!"

Eagerly, Tsuna dived right in with his fork, stabbing a piece as it was already cut up in neat quarters. Hibari eyed his share approvingly as it didn't have as much honey and started on his breakfast. They ate in silence contently.

Tsuna let out a satisfied sound after clearing his plate and drank his cup full of delicious strawberry milk while the other drank a nice cup of warm tea to clear the sweetness in his mouth. Putting the dishes into the sink, they made their way towards their pre-school.

They always walked in silence; it wasn't awkward but comforting instead.

"…ne…Hibari-san."

"What is it herbivore?"

His mouth opened and closed, thinking the better of it and didn't mention anything. "Don't worry…it's nothing…" He turned around, not missing the worried look the older boy shot him. Not liking the current atmosphere, he stopped.

"Hibari-san…I…" Tsuna looked down to produce a deep thinking state, "…I think…Hibari-san should smile more! Yes. You might get wrinkles you know!" An exasperated look was sent towards the boy grinning brightly at him.

Hibari twitched before growling in a low voice, "Herbivore…run," at the word 'run', Tsuna sped down the street ahead of him with a squeal. Giving him a head start, he counted from one to three before he too rushed off after his currently laughing prey.

—

When they arrived at school however, their playful cheeriness was replaced by the deep, dark and heavy atmosphere of the classroom. The fact that their teacher wasn't there must have meant something serious. It was the same for the other few classrooms- deserted by their teachers.

A tad bit worried, the smile was wiped of Tsuna's face and he clenched the back of Hibari's shirt, scared it was because of him, that he did something wrong.

Feeling the small brunet tugging on his shirt, he walked forward, leading them to their spot like always.

No one paid them any attention. Not even caring about _the frightening _Hibari. They were much too into their own little debates and gossip as they silently walked past them all. Sitting down, with Tsuna still holding onto him, they listened in on the various conversations being sprouted beside them.

"-someone's missing-"

"- scary, what if they take me-"

"-what happened?"

"-oldies said somethin about 'kid napping', what do they mean about a kid _napping_?"

"-someone's papa was complaining to the teachers this morning-"

"-scary. Loud. A-all of them yelling-"

"-crying, he looked red like our crayons-"

They gave a glance at each other, confirming their thoughts from all the broken sentences they heard.

Someone was kidnapped from their school. That was the commotion.

"-eard it was that Yamamoto-"

Tsuna's eyes widened in recognition at the name as a scene of a young boy with spiky black being picked up by his father flashed in his mind. Was it him? The surname Yamamoto was pretty common.

"Do you know who it was… herbivore?" Hibari knew him too well.

"Yamamoto Takeshi from Class B. I don't know him personally but I heard he is very popular. Always happy and smiling…friendly with everyone." He quietly relayed the information in his head.

A pause and a quiet question was raised. "…is this anything related with that _herbivore_ from before?"

Tsuna's body froze and turned completely stiff, with only one thought running through his head. Yamamoto Takeshi could have been kidnapped because of _him._ The other man- no _assassin_ was looking for him, or to be specific, people were hunting down for _27_.

The blood in Tsuna's veins seemed to run cold, and his skin paled quite noticeably. He had been too careless. He should have dealt with the Vongola information more delicately and hidden his footsteps more cautiously. He had _known _Vongola is the top in the mafia world. Of course other mafia families would want such precious information on them. Innocent people were getting involved, and he didn't even _know_ Yamamoto personally.

As soon as Tsuna's head bent down, his lips trembling, Hibari immediately regretted asking that question. Seeing his herbivore silently degrade himself on the spot just didn't feel right. He placed his hand on Tsuna's head which tilted up to look at him. His eyes were already beginning to get teary. Droplets were threatening to fall down the pale face. But at least the herbivore reacted.

The oldest of the pair petted the younger gently, and spoke softly "…forget what I said…" he couldn't speak anymore, as their teacher suddenly barged into the room. Hibari turned away to focus on the teacher herbivore, knowing his silent message was received.

_It wasn't your fault._

—

"Remember sweeties, do not go near strangers," she smiled happily as a chorus of 'yes miss' replied. "Now, what if a funny weird man comes talking to you, but you don't know him?"

"Ignore him and run," the voices chorused in unison yet again. Pleased she was doing her job correctly, and the children were taking the information in, she asked more questions. Not knowing two of her students didn't join in once at all, not that she cared with the death glares a certain raven haired boy was shooting at her. That boy- Hibari was it- probably scares the strangers away, no need to worry about teaching him.

If she had looked more closely, she would have spotted besides the irritation of Hibari, were the subtle looks he gave to their class's Dame-Tsuna, eyes softening from the usual icy look to a worried gaze.

—

It felt like a hand had been pierced through his chest and had encased his heart in its hold. A strong, firm, unforgiving grip squeezed its captive with short, harsh tugs, pulling at his heart strings. Literally.

Then it was gone.

His chest scarless and heart still intact.

Tsuna didn't say anything that he felt an ominous aura all of a sudden. It was warning him of something.

That's what his gut feeling was telling him.

Thinking it could be just another false alarm- just another stomach-ache, he ignored it and listened to the far away voices of his class.

Maybe he ate too much pancakes this morning.

—

Tsuna puffed out his cheeks and pouted. Sitting down on the floor with his legs tucked within his arms, he waited for Hibari to come back out from the door he had entered a while ago to get their bags. Well technically his bag only, since Hibari had no need to bring one.

If his legs weren't shaking and tired from running earlier, he wouldn't have been _ordered_ to stay where he was, and would've been able to run after Hibari since it was _he_ who had forgotten to get it.

Knowing there was no point thinking about it, he let out a soft sigh and got up stretching his legs. He winced when his leg muscles screamed the word ache, protesting against his movement.

After all these days –_weeks _- he would've thought everyone got the rule 'Do not go after my herbivore (Tsuna) or I'll bite you to death', but apparently not everyone got the hint. The moment Hibari left his side, a few brave –and stupid- bullies swarmed around him immediately. Being bullied on a regular basis, he had already developed an automatic mechanism in order for –as Hibari would put it- a weak herbivore to survive.

That most wonderfully _helpful_ and ideal method for Dame-Tsuna, that had allowed him to escape _most_ of them time, the skill that had been graced for someone like him- so maybe god does care a bit- that skill was: To flee.

_Flee like your life depended on it_.

Despite the fact it wasn't a really helpful skill for many people, it sure helped Tsuna all the time. It might be a bit conceited of him, but he prided in his escaping skills, especially now after all those tag games he played with Hibari. Amusingly, Tsuna had decided to call it 'Tag -Hunt Version-' in which Hibari snorted but made no comment or complaint about it.

Sure, he had ran -_fled-_ not wanting to trouble Hibari all the time. He had thought they would give up after a while, but to his own surprise... the bullies worked as a –quite- sufficient team trying to capture him. When he escaped one, another popped up to intercept him, and it went in a cycle much to his chagrin. Thankfully Hibari came and knocked them all down, but he still ended with tired leg muscles. Then the teacher decided to have some sport activities for the end of the day, which only added to his misfortune.

Tsuna silently grumbled to himself, remembering how the games strained his muscles even more. A couple of footsteps clacked on the ground, coming towards him and he looked up cautiously. Two men wearing smart suits came strolling casually from across the street.

However, something in his guts screamed 'Stranger Danger', so he slowly walked from the gates, and back towards the doors of the pre-school. He had never thought it would become a better place to be in right now. The sound of the shoes became faster. Tsuna quickened his pace, trying to act inconspicuous, but clearly they seemed to be after him.

Were they after Vongola's details? _Not good._

His walk switched to a run, alerting the men behind him. He struggled to run quicker with his already tired legs. It only took the men behind him a few quick strides with their long legs, and he was caught. A muscular hand grabbed his arm from behind, causing him to squeak, which was then cut short by a large hand that slapped over his mouth.

Instantly, Tsuna was terrified, they were trying to kidnap him. Perhaps- no, they _were_ the men who had kidnapped Yamamoto. Struggling, he bit down on the hand sending the man shouting profanities in another language, and Tsuna tried to wriggle free. He wanted to scream for help, but the hand was persistent and kept his mouth shut.

When he started kicking his legs wildly, he briefly heard the other man, who had been standing there all the time watching them, spoke with one command.

"_Do it."_

A sharp pain erupted from the back of his neck before black spots grew in his vision, gradually fading to a complete black. His last thought, was that the voice had a heavy accent in it.

—

Hibari growled in annoyance when he had finally found Tsuna's bag placed _conveniently_ in a corner, hidden from view. _Must have been the idiotic herbivores._ He made a note in his mind to repay them for their _kindness _tomorrow. It shall be fun...

Quickly grabbing the bag, he hauled it over his shoulders and stalked straight out of the building, not wanting to keep Tsuna waiting. No one knew how much trouble the brunet could get into, by being left alone for even a few minutes- or seconds. His mind wandered back to earlier today when he came back from the restroom to find his herbivore being targeted.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was the perfect example of being a 'Trouble Magnet.'

Point proven when he arrived at the vacant spot _where_ he had left the younger male, only _five minutes ago_.

_Vacant._

Where did the herbivore go?

Annoyance spread throughout his body, and he marched off to look for the herbivore nearby. Tsuna couldn't have gone that far in just a few minutes...he hoped.

"Hibari. Hibari."

Said child looked up to see a yellow blur flying down. Allowing his hand to outstretch, Hibird landed gently onto his index finger. Like a click of a switch, he remembered that Hibird must have been watching over Tsuna while he was still inside.

"Herbivore, where is Tsunayoshi?" His senses immediately flared when the little bird suddenly started flapping its wings frantically. It hovered into the air and started tweeting desperately at Hibari.

"Herbivores. Tsuna. Taken! Car, car!" Hibird flew off in a hurry towards a certain direction, and Hibari strode after the yellow canary.

"Herbivore faster," a direct order from its master, but the tiny bird knew otherwise, the underlying tone of worry being covered by the voice of command. With a chirp of 'roger' a yellow blur zoomed past down the street with a black blur right behind. To be honest, they weren't going that fast as Hibari's legs were too short to have the speed of a running adult, but he felt like he was zooming past everything with the adrenaline pumping.

Hibari nearly lost sight of Hibird when it abruptly turned a corner. Quickly he skidded to the left, and his eyes widened, catching sight of the fluffy brown hair being shut behind the car door, metres ahead of him. Regaining his balance, he ran towards the sleek, black car, but before he could reach it, the engine started and began driving away.

_Not good._

Growling under his breath, he pumped more energy into his legs and chased after the car. He was _not_ going to _lose_ his herbivore to a _car. _He ran determinedly after the car. Thankfully, Namimori was a quiet and peaceful town, not many cars went pass, allowing him to run on the road.

The bad thing about it being too quiet was it provided easy kidnaps –that Yamamoto kid and now Tsuna-, and currently no traffic to slow down the speeding car. Amazingly, he kept up with the car, but it must be because of the fact that the car was moving slowly.

Suddenly, the car made a last minute turn towards the right and he quickly followed. They went straight for a while, allowing him to shorten the distance.

Another turn and the distance were back to the original length.

Noticing how the car kept making more random turns, as if they were sudden decisions made on the spot and was speeding up, he came to one conclusion. The idiots must have finally bothered to look at the rear mirror, and noticed they were being tailed –by a small child so that might explain the reason why they were driving slowly. They were _playing_ with him.

Now they were trying to lose him.

Not good.

His breathing was becoming shallower, and the toil of running a distance not for a child was taking its toll on his body already.

As if noticing his sudden weakness, the car sped up even faster than before.

_Or he was the one slowing down._

In retaliation, he strained his legs and ran faster trying to keep up with his beginning speed. His legs were shrieking for him to stop and rest, but he pushed that to the back of his mind and only focused on one thing.

Tsuna was in the car.

_Keep running._

Hibari's determination and resolve was strong, but it wasn't enough.

Another turn and he gasped as he left leg slackened, causing him to fall forward. Using his arm, he pushed his upper body up and managed to catch the glimpse of the car turning again, disappearing out of his sight.

Breathing heavily, he quickly stood up. He regretted the action immediately as his mind swirled, causing him to fall back down on his knee, his legs shaking beneath him.

"Hibari... Hibari..."

He tiredly tilted his head back, and his hazy eyes met a pair of black, beady ones. He said nothing when the tiny creature settled itself atop his head. Too tired calming his beating heart, too busy getting the fact the car got away sink in. Once it did, anger replaced it quickly.

How _dare_ they take away _his_ most important person he had sworn to always protect-

Wait... 'most important'? It didn't matter right now.

Evening out his breathing, he gathered his strength and this time, slowly got up. Happy that the streets didn't seem to distort, his eyes fell onto the corner where he last saw the car, but even he knew that the car was long gone. The herbivores had taken the opportunity of his fall to escape.

The car was his only hope on reaching or finding Tsuna.

But he lost it.

_Not good._

—

"Trash why are _you_ here?"

Xanxus scowled in the direction where a man leaned on the wall, arms crossed looking quite relaxed despite the teen producing a dark aura in front of him. He merely tilted a fedora atop his head downwards, and gave a slight smirk playfully.

"I have no need for someone like _you_. The Varia can finish this mission. _By ourselves._"

Xanxus had one leg swung over the other, his elbow on the armrest and his cheek propped by a clenched fist, making him look quite demanding and powerful. Not to the man on the other side of the room however. A small frown made its way to the man's lips, and a smooth, suave voice was directed at the teen sitting on the expensive chair.

"Do not assume I came to assist you Xanxus" he shot a small glare at said person, "I've only came under the Ninth's order. Nothing more, nothing less."

Not liking this development, Xanxus growled and began lashing out, his anger released.

"That is no excuse for my old man to send _you_ of all people to do this baby sitting shit. Go back already you scum-"

"I only follow Timoteo's orders. Not _yours, _Xanxus."

"...tch..."

"Maybe I'll think about follow your orders, once you _do _become the Vongola Decimo. With your latest scheme however, your chances are quite slim. No?" He knew he was provoking the kid, but it brought him much amusement. Not that his boss would mind, he was teaching a _brat_ on how to behave.

Already, he could see the Flames of Wrath flickering from the shaking teen, as expected of the candidate for the Vongola Decimo's seat. However...

He tilted down his hat a bit more.

Nono was reaching his old age quite fast, and his wish for his successor was...

_To lead the Vongola back to its original path._

Just as his mother –also his predecessor, Vongola Ottavo, Daniela- wanted for him to do, but sadly he had failed. Now this heavy burden was placed on the Vongola Decimo and Guardians.

He could understand Timoteo's worry about the next generation. Three candidates were dead, one was too young, and Xanxus.

Xanxus had the aspects of becoming a fine boss. He had supporters, strength and leadership. He however, didn't have the qualities of the ones that were needed to complete the goal. The boy's rage was uncontrollable, but with some tutoring done it could be tamed.

But that was a backlash. His flames react with his rage, without that feature he wouldn't have the flames of wrath. Xanxus was truly the second becoming of Vongola Secondo, from the flames downright to the personality. If that was true and if he was to succeed...

_Vongola shall be having another bloody history for another generation._

The other candidate, he had absolutely no information on, apart from the fact he was that idiotic External Advisor's son. Assassins were everywhere, and now with their database hacked, who knows when the other heir would be targeted. Sawada Iemitsu would be at their necks if his family was hurt, lower rank or not, people precious to one self are too precious to lose. This hacking matter _had_ to be dealt with quickly.

Returning back to the current topic, he decided to cut the chase. He did _not_ want to deal with the kid's temper right now.

"Besides, I doubt you listened to everything on the mission details."

Xanxus looked calm, but he detected a small flinch in his demeanour, bring a smirk to the man's face. The kid had skills, but he cannot escape under the eyes of the greatest hitman of this time.

"The Varia's mission is to not _kill_ a hacker named '27', but to find and bring him back for _certain_ purposes."

There was no need to be discreet, as they both knew torture was the fate that shall befall on enemies with valuable information and the alike. It was a protocol that all mafia families followed, and there was no surprise in that. That hacker had done a serious offense, there was no way out for him.

"Remember Xanxus. I am not here voluntarily to help you with this mission, but Vongola is currently vulnerable, with _every single information_ in the clutches of someone who could be our friend or foe. All the help is needed."

He shifted his hat yet again, and a small green chameleon came scurrying onto the rim before morphing into a gun that was being clutched in his hand now.

"Also I must remind you," he cocked his gun at Xanxus, "you may be a _candidate, _but with your foolish actions that is now known as the 'Cradle Affair', be wary of the next set of actions you take kid. I am monitoring you, and I can deem you unworthy of the Vongola Boss title." Xanxus glowered at his direction, and then seemed to surrender in resignation.

"...do whatever you want scum..."

A message tone rang throughout the room, and Reborn took a peek at his phone before turning around, smirking at Xanxus.

"Well this is good news for you Xanxus, but I'm actually required for a different mission in Italy. I was only stopping by here to warn you. Remember Xanxus, the retrieval of the information and the silence of the hacker is of upmost importance."

Turning around, his gun turned back into a chameleon which climbed up his arm and settled itself atop his hat. As his companion was settled, he gave a little wave back at Xanxus.

"Ciao."

With that, Reborn strode out of the room, leaving a seething Xanxus.

That Reborn was _fucking _with him.

He got up as well and walked out of the room, slamming the door harshly to emphasise his obvious displeasure. It was time for him to gather his idiotic followers to that damn meeting.

—

A pounding headache greeted Tsuna when he woke up. Groaning, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the lighting. His eyes ran around the area above him without moving his head, Tsuna pondered why he was in a cage again. Wasn't he waiting for Hibari to come out with his bag? Then didn't two penguins came along, and started playing with him, but Penguin No.1 somehow got mad and hit him, causing him to lose consciousness. They were sure _not fun_. People should avoid penguins, they have anger issues-

Wait wasn't it two _men_ in _suits_?

"..."

Moments later, the situation finally dawned upon Tsuna's groggy mind. He shot up from his lying position, with a lovely clang, his head met the metal bars above him and a small yelp escaped his mouth. Wincing, he rubbed the bump on the back of his head gently before accessing his situation properly.

So first of all, he _did not_ get kidnapped by _penguins,_ but by two _foreign_ men- he remembered the heavy accent one of them had. Looking around, he noticed one ray of light coming from one side of the cage. He poked his hand out and touched the surrounding that kept the rest of his cage in darkness. He felt the flat, cold, fibres of polyester.

Polyester didn't allow skin to breathe in air in comparison to cotton as it is a man-made material. He remembered the times his mama fretted over choosing beddings for him and clothes alike. Technically, any fabric could suffocate him if they blocked his air supply. _However_ – his eyes narrowed at this thought- _if they were looking for '27' they would keep any suspects alive, wouldn't they?_ That was one reason why one breathing hole- or more like a line- was left for him.

Muffled voices came from behind the cloth piqued Tsuna's curiosity. He moved closer to the slit and squinted with his right eye. A group of men were conversing with each other around a wooden table, decorated with beautiful carving patterns to show off their wealth. The room itself was shady with only a candle burning brightly on the middle of the table, not disclosing any other information on where he was currently at. Each man themselves, wore crispy, black formal wear, their faces shadowed by the scarce light.

Tsuna pressed his ears closer to listen to the conversation, to perhaps get a better understanding of why he was here, but he had no luck. They were speaking in another language- was it Italian- and he felt his heart plummet down with disappointment. He watched quietly instead as the men whispered angrily at each other.

One voice grew louder, and others followed in equal volume, leading to an all out argument. He flinched and hugged his knees closer to his body, curling into a ball when loud, harsh words decided to echo in his small cell. Their words lashed at each other like whips, with the flames on the candle dancing with each syllable.

They were like a pack of alpha wolves thrown into one cage, baring their teeth at each other. Although a few of them were mature enough to not join the chaos, for example the young man with scars across his face, and another man with dirty red hair. In Hibari's words, a pack of carnivores were fighting for dominance.

A pang of guilt hit Tsuna's heart as an image of Hibari appeared in his mind.

Hopefully, his skylark friend wouldn't go on a rampage _too much_ after discovering he wasn't waiting at that spot. He could only pray for those unlucky souls that have been unfortunate to be on the end of Hibari Kyouya's fury. However, it relieved him that someone out there knew he was missing.

_BANG_

Tsuna shrieked but thankfully, it was covered by another gunshot.

A heavy and deafening silence befell on the group of men at once. It was so silent that if a pin was dropped, it could cut the silence into halves. He wondered why it was all suddenly quiet, he picked it up a second later.

He could sense it.

A deep, dark aura, full of ill intent was flowing out.

The feeling was so impure and tainted that the room had dropped a few degrees. Tsuna remembered this feeling of dread from some days beforehand. He couldn't stop his body from shivering from fear.

Fear for something bad to happen in the near future.

His eyes widened as the figures started moving closer, and began to panic. Instinctively, he laid himself back down and closed his eyes.

Muttering could be heard before the swishing sound of the cloth was lifted off his cage and a series of loud gasps filled the air. Tsuna froze in fear. He could practically feel the daggers being shot at him. He then relaxed when the cloth was placed above him again, obscuring him from the view of shady strangers.

A few shouts of protests erupted but he didn't care anymore. His eyes began drooping as felt the weariness of the day creeping back onto him. He momentarily felt himself being moved before sinking to a slumber for the second time that day.

—

Mammon's illusions were top class that even Xanxus acknowledged it, so obviously they had infiltrated the meeting without a fuss. After taking out one family, they used their identities to get in. Now Xanxus sat bored as he watched the lowly famiglias yell and screech at each other without their manners. All that was happening were useless complaints thrown at each other about territory rights.

Xanxus was itching to take out his gun and silence every one of them in this room, but before he could, the one sitting at the end of the table did it. With two warning shots, he got everyone's attention. He could feel the powerful aura the man produced, a notable opponent.

_He had to keep an eye on that red haired scum._

"Now gentlemen, may I have all your attention here please?" Once he knew all attention was on him, he stood up and walked towards the back where his stuff lay.

"As you all know, a wondrous hacker have all the information on the current most powerful famiglia: The Vongola." Mutterings could be heard, some in disgust at the name, most in dislike.

"It would benefit us all if we were to acquire Vongola's secrets. That is why we are gathered here today. My famiglia have a theory that '27', the hacker, is affiliated with a young child from our recent probing around. Robert Tiratore had encountered with that child before he was thrown into prison. Alas his efforts weren't in vain, for we have found that very child after several attempts."

He swiftly pulled a blanket off to reveal a cage. Everyone gasped, as there laid a young brunet who could not be older than five years old, sleeping adorably unaware of where he was. They were only given a brief look of the child before he was covered yet again by the blanket.

"This is a major success, and we shall be forcing the child for the whereabouts of that hacker, and-"

The world seemed to have stopped revolving for Xanxus, and he couldn't hear anymore on what they were speaking about. His sole focus was on that one cage where the child was laid asleep.

His sweet lil' fratello was there.

—

Huffing and puffing, Hibari wiped off the sweat on his forehead. He was tired and worried, it had been over a few hours since that car disappeared from his sight, taking Tsuna with it. Hibird flew down and snuggled pitifully in his neck. He placed one hand on the bird's head and gently caressed it. They were both worried, anything could have happened in just a few hours.

Asking the residents passing by to see if they saw a sleek black car was tough. People would've answered straight away, noticing such expensive car that didn't fit with their district. However, when he went up and asked politely, they didn't answer his questions right away and instead cooed over him.

Annoyance had filled him and he would have promptly bit them to death, but decided against it. He wanted to save his energy, so he rudely left them in their mid chatter. Who needed to be polite to people who don't even listen to you?

After a few more tries, he gave up on asking stupid herbivores. Now he was back to square one.

Hibari didn't know what to do.

He had no lead, no tracks, no anything to find Tsuna. It caused him frustrations to no end. Walking around aimlessly sure didn't help at all. He angrily kicked a rock on the road, and watched it strike a tree a few metres from his spot.

He wanted to find his herbivore. A fire seemed to erupt within him as he kept thinking about his wish. It spread throughout his body, making him feel stronger.

He wanted to find _Tsunayoshi_.

His-

_I can't lose him again._

Suddenly he felt a tug. He looked around, but saw nothing. Confusion filled his mind and stopped still at the spot. He waited for a few moments and nothing happened, causing him to feel a bit disappointed.

He felt another tug.

Hibari's eyes widened as the tugs became stronger and more frequent.

His legs began walking in the direction of an invisible rope that was pulling him. What was happening, he couldn't understand as he moved with an unknown goal to reach. He felt he was going to be lead to somewhere important, so he started to run.

Running to a place his heart was telling him to go.

Why was he placing his trust on this feeling?

Hope filled him however and he ignored this simple question.

A small purple flame flickered to life in his chest, resonating with another flame inside a warehouse.

_-End-_

* * *

><p>Thankyou for reading!<p>

**Please review and give me feedback?**

I'm sorry my readers but school has been keeping me busy…a lot along with my artistic side… =v=""

I have a few questions concerning this story:

_**Would you like a major time skip to their teens or a slower one in which we watch Hibari & Tsuna grow up year by year?**_

This was also another reason I was kind of stuck on what to write, so depending on what you choose…the plot shall change accordingly.

_**Announcement**__** CONCERNING POLL**_

Well although I said it was going to end, I'm just going to leave it up so _**vote anytime.**_

Also, since I felt it was unfair for some ideas AND the fact I changed my idea about some AND I made new summaries & ideas cause I'm just like that: _**I'm making a new poll and resetting all votes to zero.**_

But since _'Your Best Nightmare' _had technically won, it shall be most likely the one I'll be working on if I get stuck on '_Hidden Sky'._

_**The new story ideas are on my front page!**_ (Just cause I want to write about them but I probably never will do all of them)

Well I'm sorry for this long post, thankyou for reading and all your support, reviews, alerts and favourites!


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